Outbreak gets worse in US, says top doctor

A top US health official has warned that the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country is getting worse, with more than 100 deaths reported on Monday, the highest number of fatalities reported in a single day so far.

"I want Americans to understand－this week, it's going to get bad," US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Monday.

"We really, really need everyone to stay at home. I think that there are a lot of people who are doing the right things, but ... we're finding out a lot of people think this can't happen to them."

More than 42,000 people in the US have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and at least 515 people have died so far.

Meanwhile US President Donald Trump signaled that his administration will use data to look at recommending "new protocols" that would allow local economies in the US to "cautiously resume" activities at the appropriate time.

"Our country was not built to be shut down," Trump said at a White House news briefing on Monday evening. "This is not a country that was built for this."

Trump also signed an executive order on Monday aimed at preventing price-gouging and hoarding of critical medical supplies.

But Trump has declined to use the Defense Production Act to order US companies to manufacture needed supplies.

Earlier on Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged that the act be implemented.

New York is now the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the US. Cuomo said that data on Monday indicated that the state accounts for roughly 6 percent of coronavirus cases worldwide. He said there are now 20,909 confirmed cases in the state and at least 157 deaths.

Deborah L. Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator, gave the city more bad news: The rate of infection showed that the virus has been spreading in the New York City metropolitan region for weeks.

She said that nearly 1 in 1,000 people in the New York metropolitan area have the virus, an "attack rate" five times that of other areas.

As coronavirus infections accumulate across the US, Chinese-American organizations and individuals across the country have responded by collecting and donating the most-needed personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks and medical gowns, to hospitals.

In San Francisco, the Bay Area Council is helping facilitate the donation and delivery of 150,000 surgical masks from a Chinese tech executive to California, including 100,000 that will be provided to the Stanford University health and medical system, and 50,000 to Direct Relief, a nonprofit that will distribute them to health care facilities across the state.

The US Zhejiang Commerce& Culture Association in Southern California has also actively participated in a drive to give back to the community by donating supplies to local hospitals.

On March 19, a batch of medical supplies from the organization was picked up by Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. It included 900 N95 masks, 96 sets of DuPont protective suits and 90 filters.

Agencies contributed to this story.