US coronavirus death toll passes 50,000
The US virus death toll has surpassed 50,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, in what is the world's deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.
A lot more than 3,000 deaths came in the last 24 hours, and nowadays there are over 870,000 confirmed cases nationwide.
But the US still has a lower mortality rate than most European nations predicated on current case counts, as the White House task force has emphasised.
The grim news comes as elements of the united states reopen after weeks of lockdown.
Some hair salons, bowling alleys and other companies are opening on Friday in Georgia, Alaska and Oklahoma.
The US has by far the best death toll and case count in the world.
However, it includes a population of 330 million, much higher than other worst afflicted countries such as for example Spain and Italy.
Dr Deborah Birx, an expert on the White House Covid-19 task force, has said the country has "one of the lowest mortality rates in the complete world".
On a per capita basis the current reported US death rate is lower than Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and the united kingdom.
Recent steep rises in the daily US death toll are also partly as a result of inclusion of "probable" virus deaths.
The US Centers for Disease Control on 14 April said their case counts would include both confirmed and probable cases and deaths.
A probable Covid-19 death is one that meets clinical and epidemiological standards but is not confirmed by testing.
It is also important to note that many mild Covid-19 cases remain unreported, therefore the death rate from confirmed cases is not the same as the disease's overall death count.
Testing efforts are key to tracking the actual mortality and spread of the condition.
Vice-President Mike Pence, the taskforce leader, said the US has conducted 4.9 million tests thus far, and is dealing with governors to expand testing.
The $484bn monetary stimulus bill, offered Thursday by Congress, includes funding for testing expansion.
It's the fourth Covid-19 relief package passed by Washington, and in addition allocates funds towards hospitals and a small business loan programme.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Friday, saying he wanted to "rush economic relief to your citizens".
