US coronavirus deaths cross 50,000, as Americans clamour for lockdown freedom
The US’ coronavirus death figures have crossed the 50,000 milestone, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, in what is the world’s deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.
The figure represents the world’s coronavirus death and comes at a time most of America is opening after weeks of lockdown.
The BBC reports that more than 3,000 deaths came in the last 24 hours, and there are now over 870,000 confirmed cases nationwide.
That notwithstanding, the US is taking consolation in having a lower mortality rate than most European nations based on current case counts.
It is a case the White House is making as criticism mount over President Trump’s handling of one of the world’s biggest tragedies.
The worrying data comes at a time American governors came under intense pressure to unlock the lockdown that kept millions of Americans home as the virus spread in the country with breakneck speed.
The governors are bowing to pressure from Trump that fuelled agitations across the continent, for the states reopen after weeks of lockdown.
Some hair salons, bowling alleys and other businesses are opening on Friday in Georgia, Alaska and Oklahoma.
However, it has a population of 330 million, much higher than other worst-affected countries such as Spain and Italy.
The United States’s mortality rates again call to question China’s less than 5,000 deaths from coronavirus with more than a billion population.
With critics descending on the White House, Dr Deborah Birx, an expert on the White House Covid-19 task force, offered a defence saying the US has “one of the lowest mortality rates in the entire world”.
On a per-capita basis, the reported US death rate of 1.4% is lower than Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and the UK.