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New York state anxious to get more ventilators, medical personnel facing COVID-19 apex

(Xinhua)    11:41, April 04, 2020

With a surge of COVID-19 patients expected in the coming days, the U.S. state of New York is in urgent need of ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and health care workers, officials said Friday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo told a press briefing on Friday morning that he would issue an executive order that allows the state to take ventilators and PPE from institutions that do not currently need them, and the National Guard will be mobilized to move the equipment to where they are needed the most.

Those institutions will either get their ventilators back or they will be reimbursed for the equipment in the future.

"It is unbelievable to me that in New York State, in the United States of America, we can't make these materials and that we are all shopping from China to try to get these materials and we're all competing against each other. These are not complex materials and will work with New York manufacturers," said Cuomo.

The state is also trying to buy ventilators from China. "We are working with Alibaba, which has been very helpful to us," said the governor. "I spoke to Jack Ma and Mike Evans, who is the president. And they have been personally gracious and very, very helpful in trying to get us to source material from China."

Cuomo noted that New York state had its deadliest day yet since the coronavirus outbreak, with the death toll rising from 2,373 to 2,935 in 24 hours by Friday morning.

Over 102,000 cases were tallied in the state as of Friday evening local time. Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 have died of the coronavirus, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University.

New York City has contributed to over half of the state's total cases and fatalities, which stood at 57,159 and 1,584, respectively.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city also needs 15,000 extra ventilators and 65,000 more hospital beds, including 20,000 intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

He also said that if any private organization, company or individual has lifesaving supplies or equipment and refuses to share them, "I'm authorizing the NYPD (New York Police Department) to ensure these items are turned over and brought to where the need is greatest," he tweeted, adding that it's following the governor's order.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Liu Ning, Bianji)

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