US coronavirus death toll leaps to over 2,000 as number of fatalities DOUBLES in 2 days

28 Mar, 2020 22:46 / Updated 22 minutes ago

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A pedestrian crosses The Williamsburg Bridge alone as rain falls during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly 

Over 2,000 people succumbed to the deadly Covid-19 disease in the US, as the country has grown into the global epicenter of the pandemic with over 120,000 confirmed cases, according to the data by Johns Hopkins University.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in the US has passed the 2,000 milestone, with John Hopkins University, which tracks Covid-19 data in real time, reporting that at least 2,010 people died from the flu-like disease in the US as of Saturday.

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The new data marks a two-fold increase in fatalities in just two days. As recently as Thursday, the US crossed the grim threshold of 1,000 cases.

The US, which has just recently overtaken China as the country with the highest number of coronavirus cases, is now reporting a total of 121,117 cases - after becoming the first and, so far, the only nation to register over one hundred thousand cases.

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As the Covid-19 continues to ravage the US, with the infected being spread across all the 50 states and the District of Columbia, New York City has been hit the hardest. The nation's most populous city has emerged as the hotspot of the virus with the largest number of fataltiies within the US borders - 517.

With the situation in New York deteriorating by the hour, Governor Andrew Cuomo shelved the impending April presidential primary until June. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, announced that he might impose quarantine on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in a bid to halt the spread of the disease - a proposal that has drawn a stark rebuke from Cuomo, who compared potential federal quarantine to a “declaration of war” on the states.

The outbreak has sent the US stock market into tailspin, prompting fears of an imminent economic recession, with businesses being paralyzed by coronavirus lockdowns and jobless claims skyrocketing to over 3 million.

The Trump administration has been racing against the clock to offset the economic impact of the pandemic, injecting $2.2 trillion into the frailing economy with the coronavirus stimulus package, which envisions generous assistance for the unemployed and tax relief for companies and individuals.

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While the US leads the world in the number of confirmed cases, two thirds of over 30,000 global fatalities come from Europe, where Italy alone accounts for more than 10,000 deaths.