'Making the right call is crucial': US doctor on treating coronavirus

The most significant complication for coronavirus patients is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in which the lungs stiffen and become inflamed and the body is starved of oxygen.

Doctor Daniel Brenner has had a busy week in the emergency department of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, seeing dozens of presumed Covid-19 patients.

As Maryland and other parts of the United States brace for the kind of surges seen in New York and Louisiana, AFP spoke to the fourth-year resident to gain insight into what medical professionals are learning about the disease in real-time.

Maryland has thus far seen two dozen deaths and around 2,000 cases -- capacity isn't yet stretched, but could soon be.

With hundreds of cases now coming in, Brenner said it becomes "very tricky to tease out