Coronavirus deaths in US cross 1 lakh

The US has surpassed the grim milestone of over one lakh coronavirus-linked deaths, the highest in the world, as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc across the globe by upending life and disrupting economic activity.

The wave of deaths, one-third of which has come from the world’s financial capital of New York and neighbouring New Jersey and Connecticut, has had a devastating impact on American economy which has now gone into recession with

an unprecedented over 35 million losing their jobs in the last three months.

However, a silver lining is the rate of both deaths and new cases have been registering a decline, a development that has encouraged almost all of the 50 States to announce plans to reopen their economies.

As the US reached the painful milestone of 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, that figure represents, approximately, the death toll from the 9/11 terror attacks multiplied by 33, NBC News noted.

“Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbours, colleagues, strangers in our own towns and cities and states — 100,000 people gone, leaving unfathomable grief and confusion and anger in their wake,” it said in a report.

The US has seen more fatalities than any other country, while its 1.69 million confirmed infections account for about 30 per cent of the worldwide total.

The first US infection was reported in Washington state on January 21.