NEW YORK: The United States has passed the grim milestone of 20,000 coronavirus deaths and has also overtaken Italy to have the highest number of deaths in the world.
According to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus has claimed the lives of at least 20,071 people in the US and has affected more than 519,400 people.
The grim milestone comes shortly after the United States became the first nation to record more than 2,000 virus deaths in a single day.
The New York state has become the epicenter of the novel coronavirus in the US, recording more than 180,000 of the country’s estimated 520,000 cases.
The health experts have warned that the US death toll could reach 200,000 over the summer if unprecedented stay-at-home orders are lifted after 30 days.
Meanwhile, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that public schools in the state would no longer reopen on April 20 and will stay closed for the rest of the academic year.
However, US President Donald Trump has said that he wants life to return to normal as soon as possible. Donald Trump said that he would unveil a new advisory council that will focus on the process of reopening the economy.
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