New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans have been ordered to stay home. Businesses and schools are shuttered. And National Guard units have been activated in more than half the states.

Yet despite what you may have read in a text message or on social media, there are currently no plans for a national quarantine, let alone martial law. Those National Guard units? They’re busy distributing food and medical supplies.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 (APP): The United Nations and its partners are taking steps to ensure people living in informal settlements have access to running water at this critical time when regular hand washing is critical to combating coronavirus, according to the UN-Habitat, the agency working to achieve more sustainable cities.

The agency said the impacts of the new coronavirus disease could be considerably higher on the urban poor living in slums, where overcrowding also makes it difficult to follow other recommended measures such as social distancing and self-isolation.

New York, Mar 24 (PTI) Two Indian nationals have been arrested and charged by the US border authorities for entering the country illegally and apprehended them during a failed smuggling attempt in upstate New York, officials said.

The US Border Patrol Agents from the Burke and Massena Border Patrol Stations arrested four individuals in connection with the failed smuggling attempt last week.

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for an immediate global cease-fire in face of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

"It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives (against the coronavirus)," he said in a virtual press encounter.

He asked warring parties to pull back from hostilities, put aside mistrust and animosity, and silence the guns.

NEW YORK (AP) — Doctors and nurses pleaded for supplies such as masks and ventilators that are critical in their battle to treat a surging number of coronavirus patients, while governments on Tuesday continued to roll out measures that have put more than one-fifth of the world’s population under some form of lockdown.

NEW YORK (AP) — With masks, ventilators and political goodwill in desperately short supply, more than one-fifth of the world’s population was ordered or urged to stay in their homes Monday at the start of what could be a pivotal week in the battle to contain the coronavirus in the U.S. and Europe.

Partisan divisions stalled efforts to pass a colossal aid package in Congress, and stocks fell again on Wall Street even after the Federal Reserve said it will lend to small and large businesses and local governments to help them through the crisis.

NEW YORK, Mar 22 (APP): New York State will conduct trials on a malaria drug combined with an antibiotic that could be used to treat patients with the novel coronavirus who are seriously ill, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced.

He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will send to New York 10,000 doses of azithromycin, an antibiotic, and hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria.
“As soon as we get those doses, we will work with hospitals, doctors and families on using those drugs and seeing where we get,” Cuomo said.

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday that without further efforts, between 3.5 and 4.4 billion people in the world will live with limited access to water, with more than 1 billion of them living in cities.

In his message to the World Water Day, which falls on March 22, the UN chief said that "the world's water resources are under unprecedented threat."

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 21 (APP): With coronavirus fast spreading around the world, the United Nations has warned that the consequences could be devastating for the 100 million people living in war zones and other emergency settings.

“Many people live in cramped conditions and with little or no access to proper sanitation and basic health services,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters. “As the virus reaches these places, our colleagues warn that the consequences could be devastating.”

NEW YORK, Mar 22 (APP): An organization dedicated to promoting the realization of Kashmiri people’s U.N.-pledged right to self-determination has called on the United Nations to demand the immediate release of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Muhammad Yasin Malik who is being held in Indian jail on “trumped-up” charges.

The organization — World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) — expressed “deep distress” over Malik’s vow to go on fast-unto-death on April 1 to protest against his incarceration and denial of legal process.