COVID-19: Trump warns US of ‘very painful’ weeks ahead

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that the coming two to three weeks would be “very, very painful” for the country and that the novel coronavirus is estimated to claim at least 100,000 lives.

Trump said on Tuesday that confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US have now reached 188,000 after 24,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Deaths so far stand at 3,882 – with 740 reported in the last 24 hours – only surpassed by Italy and Spain, although the number could also go as high as 240,000, Efe news reported.

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks,” Trump said during his daily press briefing on COVID-19.

He added the coming two weeks would be “very, very painful,” while experts working on the crisis with the White House presented their projections on the number of deaths from the epidemic.

The White House projected the number of deaths to range between 100,000 and 240,000 after the containment measures that have been implemented. The numbers, according to experts would have gone higher – somewhere between 1.5 and 2.2 million – had no steps been taken to mitigate it.

Trump said 100,000 fatalities would be a very low figure given the higher projections.

IANS