Washington: The United States, which has become the new COVID-19 hotspot in the world after China, recorded nearly 1,500 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic in a span of 24 hours, said reports on Saturday (April 4, 2020). This is the highest number of fatalities registered in a day globally since the pandemic began last December in China, according to the figures collected by Washington-based Johns Hopkins University`s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE),
The data collected by Johns Hopkins University said that there nearly 1,480 deaths recorded between Thursday and Friday.
As of Saturday morning, the US has registered 7,152 coronavirus deaths, with New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, accounting for 1,867 of the total count, the CSSE figures showed. The US also has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world at 277,953.
New York accounts for 102,863, while other states with over 10,000 cases include New Jersey, California, and Michigan, according to the figures.
Globally, the overall number of COVID-19 infections has increased to 1,099,389 and 58,901 deaths, while 226,603 people have recovered from the disease.
US President Donald Trump has expanded the role of the US Army in the fight against the deadly coronavirus, saying that no one is better prepared to fight the current situation which is like a war.
"We are expanding the role of the Armed Forces in our response effort because no one is better prepared to win a war of the United States military, and we are in a war. Invisible enemy, Trump told reporters during a press briefing, as he described New York as the hotspot of this war.
Members of the White House task force on coronavirus expect the deadly disease to peak in the next 10 days. Various models have predicted between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the next few months, during which a large number of people are likely to be infected.
