The United States topped the global charts with the highest number of deaths due to coronavirus pandemic on Saturday. The death toll stood at 20,389, higher than the 19,468 deaths reported by Italy.
Around 2,074 deaths were reported alone on Friday, making US the country with the highest number of deaths due to the global pandemic. The country has registered over 524,000 positive cases since the outbreak of COVID-19. The John Hopkins University provided the data. Globally, COVID-19 has infected over 1.7 million people and killed more than 108,000.
Model predicts more than 60,000 deaths in the US by August
A model developed by Dr Chris Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, had predicted 61,500 deaths by August in case social distancing was practised till the end of May.
Speaking about the model Murray said: "If they factor in states that may lift these rules by May 1, the numbers "don't look good. We re-run the model, basically, almost every night -- and the new returns from different states are suggesting different peaks in different states, but at the national level we seem to be pretty much close to the peak."
Fauci believes in a downturn
During an interview with NBC's Today show, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had said: "The real data are telling us that it is highly likely that we're having a definite positive effect by this mitigation things that we're doing – this physical separation – so I believe we are gonna see a downturn in that. And it looks more like the 60,000 than the 100,000 to 200,000."
According to USA Today, in a briefing on Friday, Dr Deborah Birx of the White House task force said that despite the positive signs, the US had not yet reached its peak in cases. "So every day we need to continue to do what we did yesterday, and the week before, and the week before that, because that's what in the end is going to take us up across the peak and down the other side," she said.
Is the curve flattening in New York?
Nearly two weeks ago, the White House had predicted 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the US due to coronavirus. US' epicentre New York, saw 783 deaths on Friday, increasing the national death tally by 8,627. Claiming that the curve is flattening in the state, Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN that Friday saw a drop in the number of deaths being reported in the last few days. New York reported 777 and 799 deaths on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
"You can see that the number is somewhat stabilizing, but it is stabilizing at a horrific rate. These are just incredible numbers depicting incredible loss and pain."
"The number of hospitalizations appears to have hit an apex, and the apex appears to be a plateau where numbers will level out for a period before dropping. The hospitalization rate is also down as are the number of intensive-care admissions. Still people getting infected, still people going into the hospital, but again, a lower rate of increase," said Cuomo.
