A 1,000-bed military hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, arrived Monday morning in New York Harbor, where it is to help relieve city hospitals facing an influx of coronavirus patients, AFP noted.
This ship, equipped with 12 operating rooms and 1,200 caregivers, must accommodate patients requiring intensive care unrelated to the virus, in order to allow hospitals to focus on patients with Covid-19.
Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed the arrival of this boat, scheduled since March 18.
“The fact that the navy is there, that the army is there to help New York at a time when our city is in need, it is very important“, he declared on the chain CNN, whereas the boat entered the port of Manhattan.
“For the people of the city who have been through a lot in recent weeks, it boosts morale. It’s very emotional for all of us, we need help“.
New York City, epicenter of the epidemic in the United States with more than 33,000 cases and 776 dead, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, must also open an emergency hospital on Monday in the conference center of the Javits Center. Four other sites across the city have been approved to unload hospitals, overwhelmed in recent days by the influx of patients.
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