U.S. coronavirus cases climbed past 1,000, according to a Johns Hopkins tally that includes cruise ships, as a top health official said some parts of the country are now beyond containment efforts.
Regions from Italy to New York amped up containment efforts as the global death toll climbed above 4,000. Infections in Italy topped 10,000 as the country attempted a nationwide lockdown. A U.K. health minister became the first British member of parliament to test positive for the virus. In China, the outbreak’s epicenter, authorities reported 24 new cases.
New York became one of the first states to try to limit the movement of large groups of people to stanch the spread of the disease in a suburb of New York City.
The U.S. has shifted into a new phase of its coronavirus response after efforts to stamp out sparks of an outbreak have failed. Authorities now are focusing on limiting damage.
For weeks, the biggest effect of the smattering of identified cases had been a mild sense of worry. That changed this week, with universities canceling classes, patients popping up in offices and nursing homes, and local authorities limited some public gatherings.
Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday that America had lost valuable time tracking the virus; some regions now can merely try to cope with its spread rather than stop it.