Trump says 240,000 may die in ‘very ‘painful’ period
Warning comes as UN chief says countries face their biggest challenge since Second World War
BETWEEN 100,000 and 240,000 people in America will die from coronavirus, the White House has predicted as the United Nations head labelled Covid-19 the biggest international challenge since the Second World War.
The projection, revealed by Donald Trump and his top scientific advisers at a briefing, is based on the assumption that the current restrictions are universally adhered to by the public.
Fatalities in the US are forecast to peak in 14 days, when around 2,200 people will be dying daily. Even as the outbreak begins to fade it will last for months, with scores of people still dying during June.
“This could be a hell of a bad two weeks,” the US president said at the briefing, warning that a “very, very painful” period was coming and that hospitals would look like “war zones”.
If 100,000 people in America do die, that would be double the current worldwide total of Covid-19 deaths, which last night passed 45,000. It would also exceed the 58,000 deaths of US soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Mr Trump adopted a sombre tone throughout the two-hour briefing on Tuesday evening, once more stressing his personal shock at discovering a friend was in a coma after contracting the disease.
He said if no restrictions had been put in place then the death toll could have been up to 2.2million.
The gravity of the situation Mr Trump now faces was reflected in his comments. For weeks he had drawn comparisons between Covid-19 and the flu but he disregarded any similarities on Tuesday, saying: “It’s not the flu. It’s vicious.”
The president also said that the “herd immunity” strategy initially pursued by Boris Johnson would have been “catastrophic” had it been implemented. Mr Trump said of the UK: “All of a sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that weren’t good, so they put themselves in a little bit of a problem.”
At one point in the briefing Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, was asked if Americans should be braced for 100,000 deaths.
“The answer is yes”, he responded. “As sobering a number as that is we should be prepared for it.” He added that they would do everything possible to lower the figure. By mid-afternoon yesterday the US had recorded 190,000 cases of Covid-19 and seen 4,100 deaths, meaning total fatalities were expected to be 25 times higher than now.
The government estimates came from academic models presented to Mr
Trump by his scientists over the weekend with 100,000 at the lower end of the scale, and 240,000 at the higher.
António Guterres, the United Nations general secretary, underlined the scope of the challenge, saying: “Covid-19 is the greatest test that we have faced together since the formation of the United Nations.” The UN was formed in 1945, shortly after the end of the Second World War.
He also warned that up to 25million jobs could be lost worldwide and that a recession was coming “that probably has no parallel in the recent past”.
It came as doubts continue to grow about China’s publicly declared Covid-19 figures – its government claims 3,300 people have died, fewer than Italy, Spain, France and the US.
Intelligence agencies in the US reportedly concluded China was concealing the extent of its outbreak and was under-reporting case and death figures.
Bloomberg News referenced three unnamed US officials who said a secret
‘Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset’
report handed to the White House stated that China’s totals were intentionally incomplete.
Fresh concerns were raised about the virus spreading from people who did not know or even realise they had been infected. Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said up to a quarter of cases may not produce symptoms.
Meanwhile, the governor of the US state of Connecticut has said the death of a six-week-old baby may be linked to coronavirus. The infant arrived at hospital unresponsive and tested positive for the virus after death.
Governor Ned Lamont said: “We believe this is one of the youngest lives lost anywhere due to complications relating to Covid-19.”
Florida yesterday became the latest state to announce a stay-at-home order, affecting 21million people. More than 6,000 cases have been detected in Florida. New York is the worst affected, with more than 75,000 cases.