WASHINGTON: The United States on Sunday reached the extraordinary milestone of five million coronavirus cases.
The US has been hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, recording nearly 163,000 deaths. This is by far the highest of any country, ahead only of Brazil, which on Saturday became the second country to pass 100,000 deaths.
The global death toll is at least 727,288 since the novel coronavirus emerged and early 20 million cases have been registered worldwide reflecting only a fraction of the actual number of infections.
The grim milestone comes as President Donald Trump signed executive orders intended to provide economic relief to Americans hurt by the coronavirus pandemic after the White House failed to reach a deal with Congress.
Senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi said the new virus relief package was “absurdly unconstitutional” while Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer dismissed Trump’s unilateral measures as “unworkable, weak and far too narrow.”
But with the nation’s economy still struggling to dig itself out of an enormous hole, Democrats appeared skittish about any legal challenge to a relief package they see as seriously inadequate.
The four executive orders Trump signed will defer payroll taxes and provide some temporary unemployment benefits. On Friday, the US Labor Department reported that employment growth slowed considerably in July, underscoring an urgent need for additional government aid.
The president was seen as keen to show himself taking decisive action ahead of a November 3 election that could see him ousted from office, with polls showing a large majority of voters unhappy with his handling of the crisis.
The US on Sunday had added 47,197 new cases in 24 hours, with 532 additional deaths. US fatalities now total 162,913, and the number of infections is 5,041,473.
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