April 13 coronavirus news

The US Food and Drug Administration on Sunday announced a plan to decontaminate "millions" of N95 respirators per day, according to the agency.

Thousands of hospitals already have the system installed, according to the FDA, and could now use them on N95 respirators, which are in short supply.

It’s the agency’s third such authorization for a respirator decontamination system, with the first issued in late March and the second issued last week.

The agency said its most recent authorization, to a company called Advanced Sterilization Products, could allow for the decontamination of approximately 4 million N95 respirators per day.

The system, called the STERRAD Sterilization System, uses “vaporized hydrogen peroxide gas plasma sterilization,” according to the agency.

More than 6,300 hospitals in the US already have the system installed, according to the FDA, and each system can reprocess approximately 480 respirators per day.

The system is limited to “a maximum of 2 decontamination cycles per respirator,” according to the FDA letter authorizing its use.

A rise of at least 5,695 cases on Sunday has put New York City's total number of coronavirus infections at over 104,000, with at least 6,182 fatalities.

More than 189,000 cases have been reported in New York state -- the most heavily-affected state in the US. Hundreds of people are currently dying every day from coronavirus-related complications.

Speaking on Sunday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said authorities wanted to reopen the state as soon as possible but said it was hard to know how the virus would continue to develop.

There are now 25 inmates in Harris County, Texas, who are confirmed to have coronavirus, which more than doubles the previous count of nine within the jail population, according to a tweet Sunday evening from the sheriff’s office. 

The sheriff’s office says "dozens more inmates with symptoms are still awaiting test results." Harris County is home to Houston and is the most populous county in Texas.

Ivanka Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to urge people to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to "wear a mask or face covering when out in public."

A petition calling for British MPs to be stripped of an additional £10,000, or almost $12,500, work-from-home allowance has gathered more than 170,000 signatures online.

The one-off sum is designed to cover increased costs as members of parliament and their staff work from home during the coronavirus lockdown.

Pearson cited personal protective equipment for frontline health workers as an example.

As of Sunday night, more than 172,000 people had signed the petition on the Change.org website.

At least 6,522 uniformed members of the New York Police Department -- 18% of the department’s uniformed workforce -- were out sick on Sunday, according to a daily NYPD coronavirus report.

Currently, 2,344 uniformed members and 489 civilian members have tested positive for coronavirus, the report said.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has asked FEMA to begin the development of a second alternative care facility to prepare for a potential surge in Covid-19 cases, Evers said in a statement.

The facility would be housed in the Alliant Energy Center, a large multi-venue complex in Madison. 

"This second alternative care facility will be an essential backup facility to ensure our healthcare system in the south central region is not overwhelmed," Evers said. "Hopefully this second site will not be needed, but we must prepare for it now so we are ready."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the resignation submitted by Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu after the minister came under heavy criticism for his implementation of a surprise lockdown in Turkey.

In a written statement about his resignation, Soylu said the scenes created after the lockdown announcement did not fit into the "perfectly managed process" by the government against the spread of Covid-19.

After the announcement of the curfew, people rushed out to markets to stock up on goods before the start of the lockdown leading to close contact between people.

In his statement, Soylu took near complete blame for the chaos and asked for "forgiveness from my dear nation, which I have never wanted to harm, and my President to whom I will be loyal till the end of my life."

The offer of resignation was submitted to the President and was rejected, according to a written statement by the Turkish presidency.

"The decision to offer a resignation rests with the office holder but to accept it is the decision of the President. The resignation has not been accepted and the minister will continue his post," the statement said.

The statement praised Soylu's past performance across a wide range of policy issues as well as more recently on the Covid-19 measures.

Soylu has been a pivotal figure in Turkey's fight against terrorism and is known as a nationalist hardliner. 

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu helped unload a FedEx cargo plane containing nearly 7 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) Sunday to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

The governor said some of the equipment will be shared with neighboring states.

"Whether Vermont or Maine, we'll find out what their need is and be part of the solution as well," he said.  

The state won't be charging those that receive today's shipment of supplies, a news release from the governor's office said.