What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
President Donald Trump listens to a question as he speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, April 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A health worker wearing a protective suit is disinfected inside a portable tent outisee the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center during an enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Manila, Philippines, Monday April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
An empty coffin stands against the wall at the entrance of a funeral home during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. Cases of the new coronavirus are overwhelming hospitals, morgues and cemeteries across Brazil as Latin America’s largest nation veers closer to becoming one of the world’s pandemic hot spots. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A man wearing a mask sits next the coffin of his mother as he’s transported by a cemetery worker in a full protection suit to her burial site at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. The woman’s body was previously being held in a refrigerator for confirmed and suspected victims of of COVID-19, according to the administration of the cemetery. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
In this photo released by the El Salvador Presidency Press Office, inmates are lined up during a security operation under the watch of police at the Izalco prison in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, April 25, 2020. Authorities crammed the prisoners, albeit wearing masks, tightly together in prison yards while searching their cells. President Nayib Bukele ordered the crackdown after more than 20 people were murdered in the country Friday and intelligence suggested the orders came from imprisoned gang leaders. (El Salvador President Press Office via AP)
Volunteers from a Christian church serve food to homeless people during a quarantine imposed by the state government to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
President Donald Trump listens to a question as he speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, April 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump listens to a question as he speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, April 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A health worker wearing a protective suit is disinfected inside a portable tent outisee the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center during an enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Manila, Philippines, Monday April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A health worker wearing a protective suit is disinfected inside a portable tent outisee the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center during an enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Manila, Philippines, Monday April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
An empty coffin stands against the wall at the entrance of a funeral home during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. Cases of the new coronavirus are overwhelming hospitals, morgues and cemeteries across Brazil as Latin America’s largest nation veers closer to becoming one of the world’s pandemic hot spots. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
An empty coffin stands against the wall at the entrance of a funeral home during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. Cases of the new coronavirus are overwhelming hospitals, morgues and cemeteries across Brazil as Latin America’s largest nation veers closer to becoming one of the world’s pandemic hot spots. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A man wearing a mask sits next the coffin of his mother as he’s transported by a cemetery worker in a full protection suit to her burial site at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. The woman’s body was previously being held in a refrigerator for confirmed and suspected victims of of COVID-19, according to the administration of the cemetery. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A man wearing a mask sits next the coffin of his mother as he’s transported by a cemetery worker in a full protection suit to her burial site at the Nossa Senhora das Gracas cemetery in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. The woman’s body was previously being held in a refrigerator for confirmed and suspected victims of of COVID-19, according to the administration of the cemetery. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
In this photo released by the El Salvador Presidency Press Office, inmates are lined up during a security operation under the watch of police at the Izalco prison in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, April 25, 2020. Authorities crammed the prisoners, albeit wearing masks, tightly together in prison yards while searching their cells. President Nayib Bukele ordered the crackdown after more than 20 people were murdered in the country Friday and intelligence suggested the orders came from imprisoned gang leaders. (El Salvador President Press Office via AP)
In this photo released by the El Salvador Presidency Press Office, inmates are lined up during a security operation under the watch of police at the Izalco prison in San Salvador, El Salvador, Saturday, April 25, 2020. Authorities crammed the prisoners, albeit wearing masks, tightly together in prison yards while searching their cells. President Nayib Bukele ordered the crackdown after more than 20 people were murdered in the country Friday and intelligence suggested the orders came from imprisoned gang leaders. (El Salvador President Press Office via AP)
Volunteers from a Christian church serve food to homeless people during a quarantine imposed by the state government to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Volunteers from a Christian church serve food to homeless people during a quarantine imposed by the state government to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the new coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a “little flu.”
The intensifying outbreak in Brazil — Latin America’s biggest country, with 211 million people — has pushed hospitals to the breaking point, leaving victims to die at home.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Monday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
— Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the new coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that there’s no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.
— Computer issues at the U.S. Small Business Administration have slowed the second round of loan applications for the small business relief program. Banks had thousands of applications ready to go Monday.
— Stocks around the world rose as governments prepare to gradually lift restrictions they imposed on businesses to slow the sweep of the coronavirus pandemic.
— Texas Gov. Greg Abbott outlined a slow reopening of the state’s economy, allowing restaurants, retailers, movie theaters and malls to start letting customers trickle into their establishments starting Friday.
— The historic crash in oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is reverberating across the Middle East as crude-dependent countries scramble to offset losses from a key source of state revenue. The economies of all the Arab Gulf oil exporters are expected to contract this year.
— The spreading specter of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons, threatening to turn them into an inferno.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here’s how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you’re worried about live.
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ONE NUMBER:
— 0: The number of hospitalized patients in Wuhan, the city at the center of China’s coronavirus outbreak, after the last 12 were discharged Sunday, according to the Hubei province health commission.
IN OTHER NEWS:
— BIRTHDAY PARADE: A fire truck blared its sirens, police cruisers flashed lights and dozens of families in cars decorated with balloons honked horns, raised signs and yelled: “Happy Birthday, Jessiah!” None of them knew him but they were all there for him on his special day.
— VIRTUAL PROMS: High schoolers are heading online for isolation proms as they try to salvage at least one slice of fun and tradition for the Class of 2020.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak