Coronavirus: US death toll from COVID-19 could pass 100,000

Donald Trump has warned 100,000 Americans could die of coronavirus, but he’s worried the country could lose more than lives.

US President Donald Trump says he now believes as many as 100,000 Americans could die in the coronavirus pandemic, after the death toll passed his earlier estimates.

But he says he’s confident a vaccine would be developed by the year’s end. Mr Trump alternated on Sunday during a two-hour virtual town hall broadcast by Fox News between forecasting a rapid recovery for the US economy and casting blame for the pandemic’s spread on China, where the disease is believed to have originated.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The COVID-19 illness, caused by the new coronavirus, has sickened more than 1.1 million in the United States and killed more than 67,000 Americans, shut wide swathes of society, including most schools and many businesses.

“We’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people. That’s a horrible thing,” said Trump, who as recently on Friday had said he hoped fewer than 100,000 Americans would die and earlier in the week had talked about 60,000 to 70,000 deaths.

About half the states have now moved toward at least partial lifting of shutdowns as the number of new cases of the virus has begun to drop or level off and as citizens agitate for relief from restrictions that have sent the economy into a tailspin.

“We can’t stay closed as a country (or) we’re not gonna have a country left,” Trump said.

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US President Donald Trump has called for the country to reopen and said a vaccine is closer than doctors and health experts think. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Trump has criticised Fox recently, casting the conservative-leaning network as insufficiently supportive.

He faced few tough questions in the event, which gave him a new format to reach the public while he is unable to hold campaign rallies and after he faced widespread criticism for his combative daily briefings.

New York has been devastated by the virus but that didn’t stop some in the city taking advantage of nice weekend weather. Picture: Yana Paskova / Getty Images / AFP

In an assessment that clashes with those of some public health experts, Trump said he believed that by the end of the year there would be a vaccine against COVID-19.

“I think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year. The doctors would say, well you shouldn’t say that,” Trump said.

“I’ll say what I think … I think we’ll have a vaccine sooner than later.”

Many health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, have cautioned that a vaccine is likely a year to 18 months away.