AP News Digest 7 a.m.
Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content.
All times EDT. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK - The United States and Britain braced for one of their darkest weeks in living memory on Monday as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic deepened. Italy, Spain and France saw signs that they are flattening the pandemic curve, but still reported hundreds of people dying each day. By Lori Hinnant and Danica Kirka SENT: 770 words, photos. WITH: VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOSPITALS - Three out of four U.S. hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, according to a federal report that finds hospitals expect to be overwhelmed as cases rocket toward their projected peak. A report due out Monday from a federal watchdog agency warns that different, widely reported problems are feeding off each other in a vicious cycle. Such problems include insufficient tests, slow results, scarcity of protective gear, the shortage of breathing machines for seriously ill patients and burned-out staffs anxious for their own safety. By Ricardi Alonso-Zaldivar. SENT: 840 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK—ANTIVIRAL DRUG — Coronavirus patients around the world are rushing to join studies of an experimental drug that showed promise against some similar viruses in the past. Interest in the drug remdesivir has been so great that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is boosting the size of its study, which has nearly reached its initial goal just a few weeks after starting. By AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione. SENT: 810 words, photos, video.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AMERICA AND THE WORLD — As the coronavirus spread across the world and began its reach into the United States, an assortment of Americans turned to one notion as they framed the emerging cataclysm. They called it “the Chinese virus” — a problem from far away. The message was clear: Whatever the ravages of COVID-19 are causing, it’s somewhere else’s fault. By AP National Writer Ted Anthony. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AFGHANISTAN MIGRATION — Some 200,000 Afghans and counting have returned from Iran to their home country after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic or out of fear of getting infected. They are flowing across the border from a country that has one of the world’s worst outbreaks to an impoverished nation that is woefully unprepared to deal with the virus. By Tameem Akhgar SENT: 760 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SOUTH AFRICA-TESTS -- South Africa may have an advantage in the coronavirus outbreak, despite being one of the world’s most unequal countries with a large population vulnerable to the virus. Years of battling HIV and tuberculosis have endowed it with the know-how and infrastructure to conduct mass testing. Health experts stress that the best way to slow the spread of the virus is through extensive testing, the quick quarantine of people who are positive, and tracking who those people came into contact with. South Africa has begun doing just that with mobile testing units and screening centers established in the country’s most densely populated township areas. By Andrew Meldrum. SENT: 830 words, photos. This is the Tuesday spotlight.
Find more all-format coverage on the Virus Outbreak featured topic page in AP Newsroom.
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MORE ON VIRUS OUTBREAK
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-LIVES LOST-DYING ALONE — Nothing in the way Enrico Giancomoni lived during his 80-plus years in Rome corresponds with the way he died, which was alone. SENT: 560 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FOOD AID —There are only a handful of states in the country where food aid recipients can buy groceries online. The coronavirus pandemic is shining a light on that and other inflexibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps. The program helps millions of Americans pay for food, and with the economy collapsing, activists say it’s more vital than ever. SENT: 920 words.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PERU-THE VULNERABLE — Pushing a shopping cart with two children, César Alegre emerges from the large, deteriorated house near Peru’s presidential palace that is shared by 45 families to search for food. Sometimes he begs in markets; sometimes he sells candies. It is a task that was hard at the best of times, but with a month-long quarantine that has forced 32 million Peruvians to stay home, it has become much harder. SENT: 700 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CRUISE SHIP — Authorities say 14 people have been taken to hospitals from a cruise ship that docked in Florida with coronavirus victims aboard and one of them has died at a hospital. Two fatalities were reported earlier aboard the Coral Princess, which docked Saturday in Miami. SENT: 540 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW ZEALAND TOURISTS — German tourists stranded in New Zealand by the country’s coronavirus lockdown have finally been allowed to leave on charter flights home, while British tourists in a similar situation have also begun to leave. SENT: 530 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK- JAPAN - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says that he will declare a state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures as early as Tuesday to bolster measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak, but that there will be no hard lockdowns. SENT: 130 words, photo.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-ITALIAN FISHERMEN-PHOTO GALLERY — Italy’s fishermen still go out to sea at night, but not as frequently in recent weeks since demand is down amid the country’s devastating coronavirus outbreak. As a result, they are barely covering their expenses. The AP accompanied a fisherman, his son and another crew member on their trawler one night to see what their lives are like as they struggle to pay their expenses. SENT: 380 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TIGER - A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the new coronavirus. It’s believed to be the first infection in an animal in the U.S. and the first known in a tiger anywhere. SENT: 750 words, photo, video.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
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UKRAINE-CHERNOBYL FIRE— Emergency teams in Ukraine are battling a forest fire in the contaminated area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that has raised radiation fears. On Saturday, two blazes erupted in the zone around Chernobyl that was sealed after the 1986 explosion at the plant. SENT: 170 words, photos.
KENNEDY-TOWNSEND-MISSING RELATIVES — Authorities say they will continue the search Monday in the Chesapeake Bay for the bodies of the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. SENT: 240 words, photos.
EMIRATES-EMAAR — Dubai’s state-backed developer Emaar says it sold an 80% share of its district cooling project around the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, for $675 million. The announcement comes as the city-state’s property market suffers from the new coronavirus pandemic. SENT: 160 words, photo.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-POLITICS -- President Donald Trump is confronting the most dangerous crisis a U.S. leader has faced this century as the coronavirus spreads and a once vibrant economy falters. As the turmoil deepens, the choices he makes in the critical weeks ahead will shape his reelection prospects, legacy and the character of the nation. By Steve Peoples, Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,370 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-WASHINGTON -- The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence tried to strike more optimistic tones, suggesting that hard weeks ahead could mean beginning to turn a corner. By Will Weissert and Kevin Freking. SENT: 920 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-GOVERNORS IN THE SPOTLIGHT -- Across America, as families hole up anxious and isolated by the new coronavirus, watching the governor’s daily press briefing is becoming a new daily ritual. A new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds more Americans approve of the way their state government is handling the coronavirus outbreak than approve of the federal government’s approach. By Julie Carr Smyth and Kathleen Ronayne. SENT: 1,270 words, photos.
TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT -- The ousted inspector general of the intelligence community says he is “disappointed and saddened” that President Donald Trump fired him, but he also encouraged other inspectors general to continue to speak out when they are aware of wrongdoing. By Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick. SENT: 720 words, photos.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-UNITED STATES-TAIWAN -- The Trump administration is seizing the opportunity of the coronavirus pandemic to press for Taiwan’s inclusion as a separate entity in international organizations and more broadly pushing back on Beijing’s recent diplomatic victories over Taipei. By Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.
FACT CHECK-WEEK -- President Donald Trump is pitching a medicine for COVID-19 sufferers that science has not concluded is effective or safe for their use. His straight-ahead advocacy of the drug is the latest example of the president and public-health authorities not being on the same page in the pandemic. By Hope Yen, Eric Tucker and Calvin Woodward. SENT: 2,400 words, photos.
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AUSTRALIA-CARDINAL CHARGED — Australia’s highest court on Tuesday will judge Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against convictions for molesting two teenage choirboys more than two decades ago. But the legal battle may not end there. The High Court could deliver Pope Francis’ former finance minister a sweeping victory, absolute defeat or a decision in between that could extend the appeal another year or more. SENT: 710 words, photos.
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FINANCIAL MARKETS — Asian shares and U.S. futures have rebounded as investors grasped at threads of hope that the battle against the coronavirus pandemic may be making some progress in some hard-hit areas. Markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney gained more than 2% in early trading and Hong Kong was up nearly 1%. New York futures were about 3% higher. By AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach. SENT: 800 words, photos.
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VIRUS OUTBREAK-OUR COUNTRY — In the middle of a pandemic, country music’s biggest stars still play on. Showing unscripted parts of their lives, artists performed from home for “ACM Presents: Our Country,” on CBS on Sunday, in lieu of the delayed Academy of Country Music Awards. By AP Entertainment Writer Kristin M. Hall. SENT: 650 words, photo.
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HOW TO REACH US
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