Trump urged to get firms behind efforts

NEW YORK－At least 415 people have died due to the novel coronavirus in the United States as of Sunday, marking another milestone as the number of US cases surged to 32,000.

And on Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of confirmed cases in his state had risen to 15,168－roughly 5 percent of the pandemic's growing global total－and the death toll in the state is 114, both the highest in the nation.

Cuomo also urged US President Donald Trump to use the Defense Production Act to compel companies to manufacture much-needed masks, gowns and ventilators.

He said states were competing with one another for the protective gear, and the mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio said on Sunday that New York was 10 days away from running out of ventilators.

But Trump has so far declined to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to order companies, though some－including Tesla, General Motors and Ford－are volunteering to produce supplies.

The number of cases has soared in the US as testing has become more available. So far, about 254,000 US citizens have been tested, Vice-President Mike Pence said on Sunday. But that total does not include local hospitals or local health care labs, he added.

At a White House news conference on Sunday, Trump said he had activated the National Guard for New York state, California and Washington state.

The governors of each state will "remain in command", the president said, but the federal government will fund the cost of deployment.

The US Army Corps of Engineers will help build four medical stations in New York with 1,000 beds, according to the president. Trump also directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to supply beds to medical facilities in California and Washington state, he said.

In a related development, the naval ship USS Mercy is headed for the Port of Los Angeles and will be the largest hospital in that city, with 1,000 beds, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Sunday at a news conference.

As of Sunday, nearly one in three US citizens was under orders to stay home to slow the spread of the virus as Ohio, Louisiana and Delaware became the latest states to enact broad restrictions, along with the city of Philadelphia.

They joined New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey, home to 101 million US citizens combined.

Earlier on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the lockdown affecting large segments of the US public was likely to last 10 to 12 weeks, or until early June.

Riot over virus fears

In response to the rapid spread of the virus, Latin American countries are also ramping up their efforts to contain the outbreak. Colombia will enter a nationwide lockdown from Tuesday night.

In another development, a deadly riot broke out at the La Modelo prison in Bogota over sanitation concerns linked to the outbreak, leaving 23 inmates dead and 83 injured, authorities said on Sunday.

Justice Minister Margarita Cabello described the events as an attempted prison escape, but advocates for the inmates said officials had cracked down on inmates staging a peaceful protest over conditions they feared would exacerbate infections.

In Chile, the country imposed a night-time curfew on Sunday, while Brazil and Uruguay announced on Sunday that they would close their land border for the next 30 days.

Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador and Paraguay are among a growing number of countries to impose a total lockdown of their populations.

Ai Heping in New York, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.