Coronavirus in US: Over 4,000 dead and 40% of them are from New York

• The United States has reported over 4,000 Coronavirus deaths so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).
• That is more than double the count three days earlier. US witnessed 4,076 deaths, compared to 2,010 recorded late Saturday (March 28).
• Over 40% of the deaths in the US were in New York.

The United States has reported over 4,000 Coronavirus deaths so far, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE). That is more than double the count three days earlier.

US witnessed 4,076 deaths, compared to 2,010 recorded late Saturday (March 28).

The number of cases surged in New York with 67,000 cases and 1,200 deaths. That means, over 40% of the deaths in the US were in New York, as per the Johns Hopkins University. While the total number of Coronavirus infections spiked to 163,000, as on March 31.


Given that, the US government is experimenting with antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and a blood-related therapy to treat Coronavirus patients. Hydroxychloroquine is being administered to 1,100 patients in New York, IANS reported citing President Donald Trump's statement at a White House briefing.

200,000 people might succumb to the virus

The White House predicts that America's death toll is likely to be at its peak in the next two weeks — and up to 200,000 people might succumb to the virus.

"It's possible. It's entirely possible that would happen if we don't mitigate. What we're trying to do is to not let that happen," IANS reported citing Anthony Fauci's statement at a White House briefing.

The US government has extended the social distancing guidelines till April 30. "By June 1, we will be well on our way to recovery," he said.

However, US President Donald Trump says that "2.2 million people would have died if we did not do the social distancing and all that. If we could hold that down to a 100,000 - it's a horrible number - we've done a very good job."

10,000 cases in less than five hours

Alarmingly, the nationwide tally surged by 10,000 cases in less than five hours on March 26, IANS reported. With this, the US surpassed China and Italy to become the epicenter of the disease.

As a result, the country is gripped with shortage of medical supplies, beds and staff. Given the scarcity of protective gear, the healthcare workers are bound to recycle old face masks or even use trash bags to protect themselves.

“Our nurses across the country do not have the personal protective equipment that is necessary to care for COVID patients, or any of their patients,” Bonnie Castillo of US nurses union, National Nurses United, told MSNBC.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the state, which has been the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, has a massive shortage of ventilators. “There is no stock available,” he said. Moreover, they need more hospital beds — at least 50% more compared to the existing capacity.

As an alternate, a few hospitals are now sharing a single ventilator between two patients. This comes in the back of the ongoing crisis in New York city — where the death toll hit 365 while the number of virus-hit patients surged by 40%, the New York Times reported.

On the other hand, the next hotspot hit by Coronavirus, New Orleans is expected to run out of ventilators by April 2 and sick beds by April 7, if the infection continues to spread at the same rate.

That is not all. Researchers are now worried about a global recession. The shutting down of factories and plants has disrupted global supply chains, triggering fears of large-scale unemployment. The US Labor Department reported that a lot of Americans are filing claims for unemployment benefits. Last week, it registered nearly 3.28 million claims.

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