COVID-19: Inside New York City, epicenter of U.S. coronavirus outbreak

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio projected that over half of the city of more than 8 million people will become infected with coronavirus

appealed to the federal government to provide New York with more ventilators to face a public health crisis he estimated would last into May.

The U.S. government raced on Tuesday to build hundreds of makeshift hospitals near major cities as healthcare systems were pushed to capacity, and sometimes beyond, by the coronavirus pandemic.

People walk down the street in the Harlem neighborhood as fears increasingly grow over the coronavirus pandemic on March 31, 2020 in New York City. Hospitals in New York City, the nation's current epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, are facing shortages of beds, ventilators and protective equipment for medical staff. Currently, over 75, 000 New Yorkers have tested positive for COVID-19.

Pat's Farms grocery store cashier Safina Begum poses for a portrait wearing a mask, gloves, and plastic visor on March 31, 2020 in Merrick, New York. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11. Nearly 3,900 people have already died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in the United States, more than the 2,977 who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The total confirmed U.S. cases rose to 187,000.

Nearly half of the new fatalities were in New York state, the epicenter of the pandemic despite closed businesses and deserted streets. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for immediate reinforcements in the country’s biggest city from the Trump administration.

A body wrapped in plastic is loaded onto a refrigerated container truck used as a temporary morgue by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at Brooklyn Hospital Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

A ward for coronavirus patients at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, March 23, 2020. Guidelines that could determine which coronavirus patients get prioritized for lifesaving care vary by state, involving factors such as age, health problems, pregnancy and cognitive abilities.