Donald Trump has said he hopes the US is “starting to see light at the end of the tunnel” while New York, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, reported a potential "plateau" of cases, as a grim streak of hundreds of deaths appears to have levelled rather than continue to spike.
On Monday, the number of Covid-19-related deaths in the US eclipsed 10,500, including the nation's youngest victim, a one-day-old newborn in Louisiana.
The president optimistic comments came in stark contrast to those of US surgeon general Jerome Adams, who warned Americans to brace for levels of tragedy similar to the September 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbour in the week ahead, as states continue mitigation efforts and prepare for several more weeks of quarantine and stay-at-home measures.
In a press conference attacking his predecessor Barack Obama, Democrats, reporters and a US Navy captain who alerted officials to a potential coronavirus outbreak on his ship before he was fired for doing so, the president dismissed an inspector general report that outlined the shortages of critically needed medical supplies in US hospitals.
The president also said he has considered "getting involved" with Captain Brett Crozier's case, and said that the captain's emailed letter "shows weakness."
The president said: "We don't want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter [and] gets a leak. We don't want that."
Mr Trump continued to push for a controversial malaria drug that officials in his own administration have warned is not clinically proven to safely combat the virus. Despite warnings from Dr Anthony Fauci and the federal Food and Drug Administration, the president and his chief trade adviser Peter Navarro have insisted on administering the drug.
Mr Navarro has reportedly clashed with Dr Fauci about the drug's efficacy, though he told CNN he's qualified to measure the drug's effectiveness, despite not having a medical background.
On Monday, Dr Fauci was hesitant to say that mitigation efforts are showing signs of working across the US, but early results in hard-hit areas like New York are starting to show decreasing numbers of hospitalisations requiring ventilator support. He said: "You never want to think about declaring victory prematurely."
He said that health officials may be "overshooting" the models using initial data that showed as many as 200,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, a Democratic primary election in Wisconsin scheduled for 7 April cannot be postponed despite pleas from lawmakers and a last-minute push from the state's governor, which was overruled by the state's Supreme Court. The decision sends the election into chaos, with a drastic shortage of poll workers and an electorate that has been ordered to stay home under threat of the virus.
Ballots include thousands of local races in addition to a crucial race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for the party's nomination to face the president in November.
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Americans told to prepare for 'hardest and saddest week'
The surgeon general has warned Americans to prepare for "our hardest and saddest week" as the US braces for a spike in coronavirus-related deaths.
Jerome Adams told Fox News: "This is going to be our Pearl Harbour moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localised - it's going to be happening all over the country."
The US is entering a crucial two-week period to combat the virus, with nearly comprehensive statewide stay-at-home orders across the US and surges in hospitalisations and patients requiring ventilator support following Covid-19 infection.
The US surgeon general told governors who have not issued month-long stay-at-home orders to at least consider one for the coming week.
Eight states have yet to order residents to stay home: Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
Georgia, which has recorded 6,600 cases and more than 200 deaths, ordered residents to stay home but then allowed some beaches to reopen.
Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson defended his refusal to order state-wide restrictions, saying the situation was being watched closely and that his more "targeted approach" was still slowing the spread of the virus.
Trump stops expert from answering question on untested Covid-19 treatment
In another heated press briefing at the White House, Donald Trump prevented his top coronavirus adviser from answering a question on the efficacy of an unproven anti-malarial drug that the president has repeatedly promoted as a possible treatment for Covid-19.
Although hydroxychloroquine has not been medically cleared to treat those infected with coronavirus, the president doubled down in his support for the drug, saying he was not willing to wait a year for the results of testing. “Take it. What do you have to lose?” he told Americans.
But Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top doctor on infectious diseases and a key member of the White House task force, insisted there is nothing to suggest the medicine has any genuine benefit against coronavirus.
Riverside county in California has made it mandatory for residents to wear face masks when outdoors.
US denies diverting face masks headed for Germany
The US has denied any knowledge of a shipment of face masks bound for Germany after officials in Berlin accused the country of diverting it from an airport in Bangkok.
Berlin Secretary of Interior Andreas Geisel claimed an order of 200,000 masks bound for Germany had been "confiscated" in Bangkok and diverted to the US in an "act of modern piracy".
However Jillian Bonnardeaux, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Bangkok, told Reuters: "The United States government did not take any action to divert any 3M supplies that were destined to Germany nor did we have any knowledge of such a shipment.
"We remain concerned about pervasive attempts to divide international efforts through unsourced, unattributed disinformation campaigns."
A spokeswoman for 3M told Reuters the company had no evidence that its products had been seized.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected offers from Washington for humanitarian assistance.
It is so far the most affected Middle Eastern country, with more than 58,000 people infected with Covid-19 and over 3,600 deaths.
Iranian authorities claim US sanctions have hampered their efforts to curb the outbreak, urging other countries and the United Nations to call on the US to lift them.
The Taliban has claimed the US is violating their peace deal in Afghanistan and warned of more violence if it continues.
The Taliban said they had restricted attacks against Afghan security forces to rural outposts, had not attacked international forces and had not attacked Afghan forces in cities or military installations.
But they warned of more violence if the US and the Afghan government continue the alleged violations.
US military spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett denied the Taliban allegations, saying the US forces in Afghanistan have "upheld and continues to uphold the military terms of the US-TB [Taliban] agreement; any assertion otherwise is baseless."
A four-year-old tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for coronavirus, likely the first case involving an animal in the US, Alex Woodward reports.
Nadia and six other big cats were symptomatic with a dry cough and were believed to have been infected by an asymptomatic member of the zoo staff.
The cat was tested "out of an abundance" of caution and the animals are reportedly doing well under veterinary care.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer has been criticised for prioritising public arguments with Donald Trump over handling the coronavirus pandemic in her state, Gino Spocchia reports.
The Democrat, who has been tipped to become Joe Biden’s running-mate ahead of November’s election, was warned by local media this weekend that she could damage her party’s chances in the swing state.
In an op-ed published on Saturday, The Detroit News slammed Ms Whitmer for playing politics during the pandemic.
Governors and activists are pleading for the government to make the country’s food stamp system more flexible during the coronavirus pandemic.
Buying groceries online is currently only open to those who receive food aid through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in six US states.
But politicians are calling for the department of agriculture to make it more flexible and easier to access at a time when so many people are losing their jobs and turning to the government for support.
The calls have even come from conservative states where politicians have tried to reduce or limit food aid.
In Arizona, Republican governor Doug Ducey has asked the agency to waive interview requirements for applicants, allow families to purchase hot meals, waive work requirements for some and enact other changes that would help families deal with the economic fallout of the pandemic.
Food security advocates have recommended the government should go further and give states the freedom to adjust their programs.
Inside New York’s coronavirus-only field hospital
Soldiers in camouflage and civilians in polo shirts lined up for a life-or-death battle: Keeping a potentially deadly microbe from overrunning this makeshift hospital inside a 2.1 million-sq ft convention centre within the densest, most populous city in America.
Coloured tape on the floor marked where to stand. Six feet. Six feet. Six feet. Proceed to the neon yellow box. Answer the soldier’s questions.
Jada Yuan describes life inside New York’s rapidly built Covid-19 hospital
The intelligence chief who alerted Congress to the whistleblower complaint that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment has said that the president fired him for doing his job.
Michael Atkinson said in a statement on Sunday that he was “disappointed and saddened” by the decision.
“It is hard not to think that the President’s loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial Inspector General, and from my commitment to continue to do so,” said Mr Atkinson in a statement released on Sunday.
US officials are bracing the country for a "peak death week" from the coronavirus pandemic as the accelerating American death toll closes the gap with Italy and Spain – the countries with the most fatalities to date.
Admiral Brett Giroir, a physician and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC’s Good Morning America programme: "It's going to be the peak hospitalization, peak ICU week and unfortunately, peak death week."
He raised particular alarm for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Detroit, and reinforced the message from US surgeon general Jerome Adams who earlier warned this week will be the country’s “Pearl Harbour moment, our 9/11 moment”.
Roughly twice as many people a day are dying in the United States compared to Spain and Italy, according to Reuters.
The American death roll rose by 1,144 on Sunday, raising the total to 9,573.
UN chief calls for countries to tackle ‘horrifying’ domestic abuse surge
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has called on governments to take urgent measures to tackle a "horrifying global surge" in domestic violence fuelled by worldwide lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Calls to helplines have doubled or tripled in some countries amid increasing social and economic strains compounded by strict limits on movement, which have left many women isolated at home with abusive partners.
Mr Guterres called for all governments to make preventing violence against women a key part of their national response plans for Covid-19.
The UN secretary general said in a video: "For many women and girls, the threat [of violence] looms largest where they should be safest: in their own homes.”
He called on governments to create safe ways for women to seek support without alerting their abusers, including by setting up emergency warning systems in pharmacies and groceries - among the few places people are still allowed to visit.
A 66-year-old pastor and street musician who said media coverage of the coronavirus was overhyped died of the virus after travelling from Virginia to preach at Mardi Gras.
Pastor Landon Spradlin died at a hospital in North Carolina on Tuesday, after eight days in intensive care.
He was hospitalised having collapsed with pneumonia as he made the 900-mile return trip from Louisiana to Virginia.
CVS ramps up drive-through coronavirus testing sites with faster kits
CVS Health Corp, called on by the Trump administration last month to help test Americans for infections from the new coronavirus, has said it is launching two offsite testing locations with Abbott Laboratories' faster diagnostic kit and will be able to handle 1,000 tests per day.
The two new drive-through Covid-19 testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island will use the new Abbott tests, which can work in 15 minutes, and up to four more locations are expected to follow.
While more than 300,000 people in America have tested positive for Covid-19, officials believe a shortage of kits has under counted cases.
Testing, including at drive-through sites like these, is seen as a key component for US workers and restarting the economy as most states have ordered many non-essential businesses to close.
CVS chief medical officer Troy Brennan said the company expects to announce a third testing site in a different state on Tuesday and could launch up to three more sites after this.
'White House considering US Treasury coronavirus bond'
Donald Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow has revealed White House advisers have been discussing the possibility of a coronavirus-related US Treasury bond.
Mr Kudlow said this is a time to sell bonds to raise cash for the coronavirus relief efforts and he thought a "war bond" was a great idea.
He told CNBC: "This would be a long-term investment into the future of American health, safety and the economy.
"From my standpoint, technical considerations aside, I think the concept is exactly right."
