【常速英语广播5分钟】英语新闻2020-04-8

VOA NEWS

April 8, 2020

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.

The United States suffered its worst daily death toll yet in the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, with more than 1,700 deaths reported on Tuesday [bef...] before all state totals were in. The death toll for the United States has now risen past 12,000.

The U.S. has the third highest official death toll in the world for coronavirus death behind Italy and Spain.

More than 40 percent of the U.S. deaths have been in the state of New York and the [ma...] majority of those in New York City. The state's governor Andrew Cuomo reported a potential sign of progress in containing the spread of coronavirus with a drop in hospitalizations and critically ill patients.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Tuesday warned that African-Americans are likely to contract COVID-19. Adams, who is African-American, noted that black Americans are more likely to have preexisting conditions and lack access to health care.

U.S. President Donald Trump and top medical expert Anthony Fauci also acknowledged the warning Tuesday. The president said the White House is doing everything in its power to address the issue.

Fauci said there is nothing that can be done about it at present except to try to get people at risk the best possible care.

The racial pattern was seen in statistics taken by the city of Chicago and borne up by anecdotal evidence elsewhere in the nation. The evidence has prompted the governor of the state of Maryland to add racial information to the data his state shares about the pandemic.

U.S. market stumbled in the final hour of trade Tuesday after two days of steady gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned negative half an hour before closing down 26 points. The S&P 500 fell 4.27 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index was off 25 points.

In early trading, the S&P 500 and the Dow were up more than 3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite was up more than 2.5 percent.

This is VOA news.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned after the firing of the captain of an aircraft carrier who sent out a plea for help after a coronavirus outbreak on the ship.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced [Modly] Modly's departure on Tuesday after a meeting between the two men. Modly last week fired Captain Brett Crozier, captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, saying he had shown "extremely poor judgement" in widely distributing by email a letter calling for urgent help with the COVID-19 outbreak aboard the ship.

Modly then flew to the ship at port in Guam and delivered a speech to the crew in which he lambasted Crozier, saying the captain was either "too naive or too stupid," his words, to be in charge of an aircraft carrier.

On Monday night at Esper's insistence, Modly issued a public apology for his language.

Crozier, who was cheered and applauded by his crew as he left the ship last week, has since tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases among sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt continues to rise. Navy officials told VOA Tuesday that 230 of the Roosevelt's 5,000 sailors had tested positive for coronavirus. About 40 percent of the sailors have been evacuated from the Roosevelt so it can be disinfected and that's 40 percent of the entire 5,000.

The British government says Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in stable condition and breathing on his own but remains in intensive care after being hospitalized Sunday for persistent coronavirus symptoms.

At a news briefing on Tuesday in London, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who's serving as an interim leader while Johnson is being treated, said Johnson is receiving oxygen treatments but did not require any mechanical assistance for breathing.

He said the prime minister was in good spirits.

The 55-year-old Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 nearly two weeks ago. He was self-isolating at his residence and as recently as Friday said his symptoms were minor.

Doctors and medical staff in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province stayed away from official duties for a second day Tuesday to protest a lack of protective equipment to treat [pro...] COVID-19 patients. They're also demand permanent jobs.

Hundreds of young medics took to the streets Monday in the provincial capital despite a ban on such gatherings aimed at [le...] limiting the spread of coronavirus. Protesters said riot police used force to disperse the rally and briefly detained around 50 rally participants.

U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed Glenn Fine as head of the independent watchdog overseeing the management of the country's $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package. Fine was the second inspector general the president has pushed out in less than a week.

Last week, he fired Michael Atkinson as the inspector general of the intelligence community.

Marissa Melton, VOA news.