A vendor waits for customers at a market during the movement control order due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Kajang, outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, March 26, 2020. For most people the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, but for some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
March 26, 2020
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March 26, 2020 6:14 a.m.
Virus infections near 500,000 as health systems buckle
MADRID (AP) — The number of coronavirus infections closed in on a half-million worldwide Thursday, with both Italy and the U.S. on track to surpass China, and a record-shattering 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week in a stark demonstration of the damage to the world's biggest economy.