New York

(AP) --- The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

TOP OF THE HOUR:

— UN Secretary-General says pandemic is becoming human rights crisis

— Japan: 14 more crew members on Italian cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

— New Zealand announces just three new virus cases, two deaths

— China again reports no new virus deaths

___

NEW YORK, Apr 22 (APP): A potential second wave of the coronavirus late in the year would likely be more deadly, as it would overlap with flu season, the head of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, has warned.

“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Pot Post. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 22 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Wednesday called on the world community to respond to the immediate crisis caused by the ‘dreadful’ new coronavirus in a way that also solves the climate crisis.

In a special message for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the UN chief, while urging everyone to “work together to save lives, ease suffering and lessen the shattering economic and social consequence” from COVID-19’s impact, also said that climate disruption is approaching “a point of no return”, and a “deep emergency” that long predates the pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly has demanded equal access for any future COVID-19 vaccine but its seeming unanimity was a fluke.

The United States in fact opposed the resolution but acted too late to stop it, diplomats say.

The 193 members of the General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution led by Mexico that calls for “equitable, efficient and timely” access to any vaccine developed to fight the pandemic.

New York, Apr 21 (PTI) New York city, the financial capital of the world that has emerged as the new epicenter of the coronavirus in the US, is forming a new response team to address the growing incidents of harassment and discrimination against Asian-Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 14,000 people have died in the city and over 200,000 people have contracted the deadly virus. The number of the coronavirus cases in the US has gone up to 787,370, while over 35,000 people have died from the disease.

NEW YORK, Apr 19 (APP): A cadre of renowned musicians on Saturday night helped raise more than $127 million for the World Health Organization (WHO), a Geneva-based U.N. specialized agency, which is spearheading the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The big fundraising haul came via “One World: Together At Home,” an 8-hour virtual concert organized by international advocacy group Global Citizen and superstar Lady Gaga and broadcast around the globe to celebrate the healthcare workers on the frontlines of the deadly virus and support WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

NEW YORK, Apr 20 (APP): A prominent Islamic advocacy organization Sunday deplored US President Donald Trump’s promotion of a notorious anti-Muslim writer’s tweet questioning whether U.S. mosques will be treated differently during the upcoming month of Ramadan than churches were treated during Easter amid the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts have recommended blacklisting 14 vessels for violating sanctions against North Korea in a report that accuses the country of increasing illegal coal exports, imports of petroleum products and continuing with cyber attacks on financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to gain illicit revenue.

(AP) --- A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.

While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life.

In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California.

NEW YORK (AP) — As residents at a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, began dying in late February from a coronavirus outbreak that would eventually take 43 lives, there was little sign of trouble at the Cobble Hill Health Center, a 360-bed facility in an upscale section of Brooklyn.

Its Facebook page posted a cheerful story encouraging relatives to quiz their aging loved ones about their lives, and photos of smiling third graders at a nearby school making flower arrangements for residents.