Coronavirus: US records lowest daily death toll

The US on Sunday recorded its lowest daily death toll in three weeks even as the total number of fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic neared 50,000.

The death count climbed by 1,184 to 49,164, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking project. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases rose by 27,358 to 959,056.

New York, which has been the epicentre of the US outbreak, reported 367 deaths taking its death toll to 16,966.

While that marked the biggest one-day increase of any state in America, the number of deaths was actually lower than in previous days and Andrew Cuomo, New York governor, on Sunday outlined a phased reopening of the state.

Massachusetts recorded the second-highest death toll in the 24 hour period, reporting 169 fatalities taking its total to 2,899.

Scientists tracking the pandemic use different sets of data for recording the impact of the disease. Unlike the Covid Tracking Project, Johns Hopkins University counts so-called presumptive deaths in New York City, which puts its total death count at more than 54,000. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the death toll in the US at 52,459 — a figure that includes 5,402 probable deaths.

Dhkaa/Mukul