The Military Sealift Command hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort were originally deployed to serve as referral hospitals for non-COVID-19 patients admitted to shore-based hospitals in Los Angeles and New York.
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) – Some patients being treated for trauma aboard U.S. military hospital ships in New York and Los Angeles have tested positive for the coronavirus, the Pentagon said on Monday.
“Have we had patients who ultimately were determined to have coronavirus on the hospital ships? Yes,” Brigadier General Paul Friedrichs, the joint staff surgeon, told a news conference.
During the same news conference, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said that the hospital ship Comfort in New York would accept trauma patients irrespective of their coronavirus status.
Hoffman added that the U.S. military was set to begin animal testing for a coronavirus vaccine today. (Reporting by Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Sandra Maler)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019.
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European Union diplomats said they expect to reach a deal during an EU summit this week on an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, which Slovakia and Hungary are using as a bargaining chip for concessions on Russian energy.
Israel and Iran appeared to be honoring a ceasefire agreement unexpectedly announced by US President Donald Trump overnight, after the American leader reacted angrily to early breaches of the deal by both sides.
U.S. strikes on several Iranian nuclear sites represent a meaningful escalation of the Middle East conflict that could lead Tehran to disrupt vital exports of oil and gas from the region, sparking a surge in energy prices. But history tells us that any disruption would likely be short-lived.
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