Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.

Cuomo’s cautiously upbeat report at a daily briefing came as the daily death toll across the state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, dropped to 540 on April 17, down from 630 a day earlier and the lowest in more than two weeks. The governor said total hospitalizations of patients being treated for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, came to 16,967, a drop of more than 1,300 over the past three days. Intubations and admissions to intensive care units also continued on their downward trend. “If you look at the past three days, you could argue that we are past the plateau and we’re starting to descend which would be very good news,” Cuomo said. He said, however, that about 2,000 infected people were newly admitted to hospitals on Friday, which he characterized as “still an overwhelming number,” and reiterated that he would take a cautious approach to reopening businesses and schools. Cuomo repeated a call for the federal government to help coordinate and provide funding for the mass testing that he and other governors have said is needed to determine when it is safe for people to go back to work. Providing new details on the challenge, Cuomo said a survey of labs in his state revealed an inability to procure the chemical reagents needed to run the tests on machines supplied by private manufacturers like Roche Holding AG. “They bought the machine, they have the machine, they have the test, but they need the reagents to do a higher volume of tests,” Cuomo said, adding that makers like Roche are struggling to get the reagents from China. “That’s the logjam we are in.”  New York disclosed 7,090 new positive cases over the last 24 hours for a total of 236,732 cases, while deaths increased by 540 to 13,362, marking by far the largest number of fatalities of any state. Even with stabilizing numbers, Cuomo said the pandemic was taking a severe emotional and economic toll on people, and estimated the impact on society would prove to be the biggest challenge facing the country since World War Two. “On every level this is a terrible experience, Cuomo said. “It is as tumultuous a time as we have ever seen.”
New York Governor sounds optimistic note as coronavirus numbers improve.

Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO, due to objections from China which claims the island as its own, has infuriated the Taipei government during the coronavirus outbreak. Taiwan says it has been unable to get timely information and that Taiwanese lives have become political pawns. The WHO denies this. Taiwan has long described this as a pattern of behaviour that puts it at risk because of Chinese pressure to exclude it from international bodies. On Wednesday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus rejected “racist slurs” against him, which he said had originated in Taiwan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan opposed any form of discrimination. “For years, we have been excluded from international organisations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” she said in a statement. “If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan to see Taiwan’s efforts to fight COVID-19 for himself, he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment.”  Tedros is not a popular figure in Taiwan due to suspicions he is too close to China and the WHO’s listing of Taiwan’s virus case numbers under China’s, despite it being totally separately governed. U.S. President Donald Trump sharply criticised the WHO on Tuesday, accusing it of being too focused on China and issuing bad advice during the coronavirus outbreak. Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said Tedros’ accusations were groundless and “imaginary” and Taiwan had not made any racist comments nor encouraged anyone to do so. Tedros’ comments were irresponsible and he should clarify them and apologise to Taiwan, Ou said. “The concept of racism does not exist in Taiwan. We do not have a problem of racism,” she told reporters. In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry did not directly say whether it believed Taiwan was responsible for racist attacks on Tedros, but said the island was trying “to use the epidemic to seek independence” and that its plots would not succeed. Taiwan has been proud of its early and so far effective measures against the coronavirus, logging just 380 cases and five deaths to date, far lower than many of its neighbours. Taiwan reported just one new case on Thursday. The WHO said last month it was closely following the development of the coronavirus in Taiwan and learning lessons from how they are fighting it. However, Taiwan says the WHO ignored its questions at the start of the outbreak and has not shared with member states information Taiwan has provided, including details on its coronavirus cases and prevention methods. Under the slogan “Taiwan can help”, the government last week announced the donation of 10 million faces masks to the United States, Europe and the 15 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic ties with the island. Ou said Taiwan would donate another six million masks, to northern and eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and U.S. states hardest hit by the pandemic.
Taiwan rebuffs accusations it racially attacked WHO chief.

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama participates during breakout sessions at the Young African Youth Leaders Forum in Johannesburg, June 22, 2011. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool Obama is on her second solo trip abroad as first lady to promote issues such as education, health and wellness. But her speech to a group of young women and men at Regina Mundi Church, which played a role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, touched on much harder topics: race, discrimination, democracy and development. Obama, who is traveling with her mother and two daughters, cited the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the civil rights movement in the United States as examples for the younger generation to follow. “It is because of them that we are able to gather here today...It is because of them that I stand before you as First Lady of the United States of America,” she said to applause. “That is the legacy of the independence generation, the freedom generation. And all of you — the young people of this continent — you are the heirs of that blood, sweat, sacrifice and love.”   Obama appeared visibly moved when the audience stood and sang an impromptu serenade as she approached the podium. Placing her hands over her heart, she thanked the crowd and seemed to choke back tears. She spoke passionately about women’s rights, saying the young leaders should ensure that women were no longer “second class citizens” and that girls were educated in schools. “You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place, including the home — especially the home — that isn’t just a women’s rights violation. It’s a human rights violation,” she said. “You can be the generation that ends HIV/AIDS in our time, the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease, the generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable and treatable, and should never be a source of shame,” she said to applause. Obama was introduced by Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife. She and her family met Mandela at his home Tuesday. Mrs. Obama said she told Mandela that he had been an inspiration to her and her husband, the first black president of the United States. “I told him that words can’t express how much your life has meant to who my husband is and who I am,” she said. “You know what he said? ‘OK, thanks,’” she continued, laughing. “There’s nothing new I can say to Nelson Mandela. But I felt good about being able to just say: ‘This is your legacy’.”   The first lady said President Obama had not known whether she would meet with Mandela. “I still haven’t talked to the president,” Mrs. Obama said Wednesday afternoon. “He talked to the kids last night. I was tired.”   She used her husband’s famous campaign slogan, which helped him win the 2008 presidential election, to urge the church audience to follow through on the issues she addressed. “If anyone ever tells you that you shouldn’t or you can’t, then I want you to say with one voice — the voice of a generation — you tell them: “Yes, we can.”

Michelle Obama urges Africa to advance women's rights.