US Coronavirus Cases Sees Deadliest Day Yet as China’s Wuhan Reports Zero New Cases

In the US, the virus has infected at least 53,972 people and killed 728 as of March 24. Confirmed US cases stood at 5,000 just one week ago, increasing ten times in 7 days nearly, 10,000 of them confirmed on Tuesday alone.

However, officials have acknowledged that the number of actual cases in the US is likely significantly higher since testing in the country has been hindered by severe shortages of medical supplies and a restrictive diagnostic criteria that limited who could get tested. The US has quickly become one of the world’s major coronavirus hotspots, threatening to soon overtake both Italy and China as the hardest-hit country.

New York state remains the US’ largest epicenter, reporting over 26,000 infections and nearly 200 deaths, making up a disproportionate number of the 783 American fatalities confirmed so far. At least nine other states across the country have confirmed in excess of 1,000 cases, with the figures continuing to climb rapidly by the day.

US President Donald Trump continued to downplay the exponential spread of the coronavirus across the US on Monday, comparing the rising death toll to the number of Americans killed in car crashes and by the seasonal flu.

US health experts have sharply rebuked the Trump administration for initially downplaying the crisis and lagging behind in testing efforts.

The US surgeon general issued his starkest warning to date on Monday about the health risk posed by the coronavirus outbreak, warning Americans that the crisis was “going to get bad” this week.

Over the previous 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases were in Europe and the United States, and of those, 40 percent were in the United States.

The highly contagious coronavirus has caused entire regions to be placed on lockdown. In some places soldiers are patrolling the streets to keep consumers and workers indoors, halting services and production and breaking supply chains.

“The global health crisis is rapidly morphing into a global recession, as there is a clear tension between preventing infections and ruining the economy,” said Edoardo Campanella, an economist at UniCredit Bank in Milan.

Some US state and local officials have decried a lack of coordinated federal action, saying that having localities act on their own has put them in competition for supplies.

China’s Wuhan reports ZERO new cases of coronavirus 

The city of Wuhan is coming back online, with no new cases of Covid-19 reported in the virus’ first epicenter and residents resuming business as usual.

For the first time since the coronavirus epidemic spiraled out of control in the metropolis of 11 million, Wuhan reported zero new infections on Tuesday, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. The city’s revival comes as authorities in Beijing look to scale back a sweeping lockdown on Hubei province – of which Wuhan is the capital – allowing 60 million citizens to return to work and go about their lives.