Trump ‘Won’t Extend Distancing Guidelines’ As Death Toll Passes 60,000

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire on Thursday, even as the number of Americans who have died of coronavirus surpassed 60,000.

The country has recorded 60,207 deaths from coronavirus, and 1,030,487 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the US according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US accounts for around one-third of all confirmed cases worldwide.

The US has now lost more people to coronavirus than the Vietnam War. Over its nearly two decades of involvement in Vietnam, 58,220 Americans were killed.

Meanwhile, the death toll will continue to climb in the coming weeks, and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates the current death toll may represent an undercount.

Putting a positive face on the latest grim numbers, Trump delivered his daily upbeat update and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, claimed that the administration’s much-criticized response to the pandemic is “a great success story”.

Trump also talked up hopeful preliminary results for the experimental drug remdesivir as a possible Covid-19 treatment, news of which saw financial markets soar. That came on the same day the US government announced dismal new economic numbers.

The figures revealed the US economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate in the first quarter of the year – a precursor to far grimmer reports that are expected this summer from the severe recession triggered by the pandemic.