Scramble to prepare hospitals as deaths tolls worldwide soar

COLLEEN BARRY and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press SOAVE, Italy (AP) — Italy, Iran and the United States reported soaring new death tolls as the coronavirus pandemic marched relentlessly across the globe Sunday, prompting a scramble in hard-hit regions to set up more hospital beds and replenish the dwindling medical supplies needed to keep health workers safe. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte went on live TV to announce that he was tightening the country's lockdown and shutting down all production facilities except those providing essential goods and services. ''We are facing the most serious crisis that the country has experienced since World War II,'' Conte told Italians during a broadcast at midnight. As bodies piled up in Italian hospitals, morgues and churches, and as medical work