New Jersey, the US state hardest hit by coronavirus after its neighbor New York, on Friday announced it would begin issuing temporary emergency permits to foreign-licensed physicians. "We're now the FIRST state to begin fully tapping the tremendous wealth of international knowledge and experience to help us on our own front lines," Governor Phil Murphy tweeted in making the announcement. The governor did not specify when the permits would be issued in the dense eastern state home to some nine million people, which has recorded more than 3,800 deaths and more than 78,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. As the two states became the epicenter of the global pandemic a number of local leaders appealed for health care worker reinforcements. The state of New York, by far the hardest hit hotspot in the United States, called for volunteers nationwide, urging retired medical personnel and just-graduating students to join the front lines. A recent New York Times report said a number of foreign nurses and doctors are prepared to assist but that travel restrictions and visa regulations were preventing them from working in US hospitals. cat/mdo/bfm