April 5 coronavirus news

The US surgeon general said this week is going to be the "hardest and the saddest" for "most Americans' lives," describing the upcoming grim period of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States as a "Pearl Harbor moment" and a "9/11 moment."

Officials are warning the next two weeks will be crucial in the fight to stop the spread of the virus. Early Sunday, the nationwide death toll had surpassed 8,500 people, with more than 312,000 infected, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Some context: While speaking at Saturday's coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, President Trump said that this week and next will probably be the toughest in the fight against coronavirus and that "there will be a lot of death."

"This will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week, and there will be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn't done but there will be death," Trump said.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he supports the decision to relieve Navy Capt. Brett Crozier after he wrote a letter to Navy leadership warning about a coronavirus outbreak onboard.

Esper said there is an ongoing investigation and that acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly lost faith in Crozier.

Esper said more than half of the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been tested, and only 155 sailors have test positive for coronavirus. He said the crew is being treated even though it is not possible to evacuate the entire ship at one time.

"You actually cannot do that because there's nuclear reactors to be run, you have very sensitive equipment, you have weapons on board that ship," he said. "So it's how you manage the crew, make sure you're protecting them, segregating, treating those that need treated while at the same time maintaining the readiness of the ship in case it's called upon to get to sea quickly."

Esper said that Crozier story was not true. He said once the Navy was aware of the first case of coronavirus, military leadership was involved to make sure there was access to supplies and testing kits.

"They were all in in terms of providing support to this crew, this ship, as it arrived in port. So I disagree with that assumption. I have a lot of faith and confidence in the Navy leadership," Esper said.

Esper said a new commander will be on the USS Theodore Roosevelt soon.

Some background: Crozier was relieved April 2.

Modly told reporters the reason Crozier was being removed was for showing "extremely poor judgment" and creating a "firestorm" by too widely disseminating the memo detailing his concerns, copying some 20 to 30 people.

The United Kingdom's coronavirus death toll has risen by 621 according to new figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care.

This is less than Saturday’s reported increase of 708.

By the numbers: In total, there have now been 4,934 recorded deaths from coronavirus in the UK.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus is now at 47,806 – which is an increase of 5,903 on Saturday’s figures.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said “many” ventilators to be used in the coronavirus response have "deployed with the USNS Comfort and Mercy in New York and Los Angeles, respectively."

Esper said “we're probably sitting on a few hundred,” ventilators that have still not shipped as they wait for requests to send the remaining ventilators once other federal stocks are depleted.

Some context: Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon had not shipped any of them as of this past Tuesday because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon's top logistics official said during a briefing last week.

The Netherlands has recorded a significant drop in the number of new coronavirus deaths, according to new figures from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 

The Institute says 115 new deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours. That compares to 164 for the previous day.

However, the Institute added: “There is a delay between the day on which a person dies and the day on which the death is reported.”

Among the deceased patients recorded in the past day are three people between the ages of 25 and 50. “They all had serious underlying health conditions,” the Institute said.

By the numbers: The total number of reported deaths from coronavirus is now at 1,766.

Overall, there are 17,851 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.

Police have visited the home of Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Catherine Calderwood to issue a formal warning for leaving her home without proper excuse, Scotland’s Chief Constable lain Livingstone said.

Calderwood was photographed by a Scottish newspaper near her family’s second home – which is in a different part of Scotland.

She has issued a statement to “apologize unreservedly” for her actions. 

Calderwood said she spoke with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon following the incident.

Livingstone says everyone needs to follow the social distancing rules, adding that “individuals must not make personal exemptions bespoke to their own circumstances”.

“The legal instructions on not leaving your home without a reasonable excuse apply to everyone,” he said.

Some context: Scotland’s government has imposed rules, preventing people from leaving their homes during the coronavirus crisis unless it is for essential food, health or work reasons.

A priest in the Lombardy region of Italy has been celebrating mass in an empty church, except for photographs of parishioners he has taped to the pews. 

Don Giuseppe Corbari told CNN that the idea of having pictures of his faithful came to him because “we've started holding masses without the faithful since February 24.” 

He said he found delivering mass to empty pews was difficult at the beginning.

Corbari said when he thought to ask parish members to send him their pictures, he didn’t expect the response he got. 

“I didn't expect such a collaborative reaction. I was inundated by pictures, and I printed them. ...now I see that other parishes, even around the world, are doing similar things," he said.

So far, the church, Santi Quirico e Giulitta a Robbiano di Giussano, has been broadcasting mass over the radio but it plans to start live streaming soon.

A new case of coronavirus has been reported from the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of Mumbai’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told CNN.

The slum, home to around 1 million people, had earlier announced four cases.

During a Palm Sunday mass held in a deserted church, Pope Francis has told young people on Sunday not to be afraid to put their lives on the line for others during the coronavirus pandemic.

Normally celebrated outdoors in front of thousands of tourists, the Pope instead spoke in the presence only of a small handful of priests and nuns and a reduced choir, who all maintained a safe distance from one another.

"Look at the real heroes who come to light in these days: they are not famous, rich and successful people; rather they are those who are giving themselves in order to serve others," he said.

"Feel called yourselves to put your lives on the line," the Pope added. "Do not be afraid to devote your life to God and to others, it pays!"

Palm Sunday mass inaugurates the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week of the Christian liturgical calendar which culminates in Easter, next Sunday, April 12.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the name of the week before Easter.