The number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase with the global total passing 735,000 cases and the U.S. number topping 143,000.
Worldwide, most of the new cases were reported in Spain, Italy and several other European hot spots. In the U.S., New York is the main U.S. epicenter; however, disease activity is surging in several other states and cities.
Recently, New York reported over 6,000 more cases and 125 more deaths. Meanwhile New Jersey reported 2,300 more cases, California reported 200 new cases and Washington state's total grew by over 500 cases. Three other states, Florida, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, reported more than 500 new cases.
In Louisiana, of the state's over 3,300 cases, more than 2,000 are from Orleans and Jefferson parishes in the New Orleans area.
On Twitter, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the case-fatality rate in New Orleans is 4 percent, the highest in the United States. He added that the reasons require more study but could be associated with overwhelmed health systems and extreme poverty linked to underlying health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the New Orleans area may run out of ventilators by April 3 and that two federal field hospitals, each with 250 beds, are being set up at the New Orleans Convention Center.
Globally, pandemic activity continued to surge in several European countries, with Italy reporting almost 1,000 more deaths, raising its fatality count past 10,000. The country has a total of almost 100,000, the second-highest amount in the world.
In some of the other global hot spots:
Spain reported over 8,000 more cases; Iran reported more than 3,000 new cases; Japan reported approximately 200 new cases; Singapore reported 70 more cases; and Hong Kong reported 64 more cases.
The CDC has issued a level 3 travel warning that recommends against all nonessential international travel owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 19, the U.S. State Department issued a level 4 advisory urging all U.S. citizens to avoid international travel.
