The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic is "very difficult for people to understand if they’ve not seen it,” especially in densely populated places like New York, according to physician Dr Qanta Ahmed. The deathtoll from the novel coronavirus has risen above 13,000 in New York, even though the fatality rates have begun to plateau according to the state's governor Andrew Cuomo.
Ms Ahmed told Sky News host Rowan Dean “we are seeing that this disease ravages people who are normally of very good constitutional health” and did not have pre-existing heart conditions or diabetes which makes people more vulnerable to the virus.
The former sleep disorder specialist said her hospital on Long Island was four times its normal capacity with infected patients and there are “more critically ill people on respirators than the entire state of Israel, so the scale is incomprehensible even to those of us who are normally there”.
Obesity and the population density have also been proven as major contributors in the spread of the virus.
With 42 per cent of the population classified as obese, “I am very fearful for the progress of the coronavirus pandemic here in the US,” she said.
Image: AP
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