U.S. coronavirus deaths top 42,000

U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 42,000 on April 20, according to a tally, as more protesters gathered in state capitals to demand an early end to the lockdowns, while officials pleaded for patience until more testing becomes available.

Stay-at-home measures, which experts say are essential to slow the spread of the respiratory virus, have ground the economy to a standstill and forced more than 22 million people to apply for unemployment benefits in the last month.

The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 7,74,000 infections, up 20,000 on April 20, with several states yet to report. New reported U.S. cases appear to be slowing from about 30,000 a day last week.

Montana for the first time reported no new cases on April 20 after processing 153 tests in the past 24 hours, according to the state’s website.

Deaths also have slowed in recent days, rising by about 1,500 so far on April 20 compared with over 2,000 a day for most of last week. The United States had a record 2,806 deaths in a single day on April 15.

Source: Agencies

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