US braces for 'hardest' week in virus battle as British PM hospitalised

The worldwide number of fatalities from the novel coronavirus rose to 70,009 on Monday

The coronavirus threatened Americans with their hardest week in living memory on Monday and put Britain's prime minister in hospital, despite early signs that some of Europe's hardest-hit countries may be turning a corner. More than 70,000 people have now died worldwide in the epidemic -- some 50,000 of them in Europe -- and, as the human tragedy continues to escalate, the global economy is plunging into what leaders warn will be a historic recession.

Japan announced an imminent state of emergency and a trillion-dollar stimulus package, while the US surgeon general compared the likely impact of the epidemic in the