What you need to know today about the virus outbreak

More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last wee k, far exceeding a record high set just last week, a sign that layoffs are accelerating in the midst of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is resisting calls to issue a national stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the coronavirus despite his administration's grim projections of tens of thousands dying.

One by one, states are increasingly pushing shutdowns: Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania have all added or expanded stay-at-home orders.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Thursday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:

— The piercing, unrelenting wail of ambulances in the otherwise eerily quiet streets of New York City has become a harrowing soundtrack of the pandemic. America's largest city is the worst hit by the virus and the statewide death toll is over 1,900.

— The job cuts are mounting against the backdrop of economies in the United States and abroad that have almost certainly sunk into a severe recession as businesses close across the world.

— The worldwide race to protect people against unwitting coronavirus carriers intensified Thursday, pitting governments against each other as they buy protective gear and prompting new questions about who should wear masks, get temperature checks or even be permitted to go outside.

— Nursing homes across the U.S. have been in lockdown for weeks under federal orders to protect their frail, elderly residents from coronavirus, but a wave of deadly outbreaks nearly every day since suggests that the measures either came too late or were not rigorous...