Coronavirus: US leads world in COVID-19 cases with 1300 dead

US now has highest number of cases in the world as American virus deaths pass 1300.

People stand in line to get tested at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, New York. Picture: AFP

The US now has the highest number­ of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, as deaths from the pandemic in the US rocketed through the 1000 mark.

The grim statistic came as almost­ 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, five times the national record, as the nation’s economy grinds to a virtual halt.

Hospitals in the virus hotspot of New York were overwhelmed and forced to use refrigerated trucks to hold the growing number of bodies­ as coronavirus infections across the country soared to 85,840, with 1296 deaths.

This number of infections in now higher than that recorded anywhere in the world, including the other hotspots of Italy, Spain and, previously, China.

Despite the grim statistics, US markets rallied strongly for the third day after the Senate passed an unprecedented $US2.2 trillion ($3.4 trillion) stimulus package to give emergency aid to households, businesses, cities, states, hospitals and industries.

The Group of 20 nations, in a video chat summit, also said they would inject $US5 trillion into the global economy to battle the economic fallout from the pandemic.

The US Senate rescue package aims to cushion the blow of the US economy as it shuts down in the face of the spreading virus. The size and scale of the economic shutdown was reflected in the Labor Department’s weekly new unemployment claims of almost 3.3 million, which dwarfed the ­previous weekly record of 695,000 set in the recession of 1982.

Unemployment will continue to rise steeply in the months ahead as more workers lose their jobs across the spectrum of the US economy as people stay home to protect themselves against the virus. Some economists predict unemployment could be as high as 13 per cent by May, up from just 3.5 per cent last month.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin played down the jobless claims, saying they would be offset by the massive rescue package.

“I just think these numbers right now are not relevant, and, you know, whether they’re bigger or smaller in the short term,’’ he said. “Obviously there are people who have jobless claims, and again, the good thing about this bill is the President is protecting these people, so you know, now with these plans, small businesses hopefully will be able to hire back a lot of those people.”

In a rare public comment, ­Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell also gave an upbeat assessment. “We may well be in a recession­, but I would point to the difference between this and a nor­mal­ recession,’’ he said. “There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy. Quite the contrary, the economy performed very well right through February … so we start in a very strong position.”

Meanwhile, in the country’s coronavirus epicentre of New York, more than 100 people died in one day, taking the state’s death toll to 385. The number of infections also soared by more than 6400 in 24 hours to 37,258, with 21,000 of these in New York City.

At Elmhurst hospital in Queens, 13 people died in one day, with the hospital using a refrigerated truck to hold bodies. Ambulances in New York are being steered away from some hospitals where capacity is overflowing.

More than 200 army medics have been sent to New York state to help support existing hospitals, while troops are building four temporary hospitals in the greater New York region to prepare for an expected spike in new patients in the coming weeks.

A hotspot is emerging in Louisiana, where the party city of New Orleans was slow to close down. Louisiana has almost 1800 COVID-19 infections, with 827 of these in New Orleans, which now has one of the fastest infection rates in the world. The state’s Governor, John Edwards, has said the current trajectory of the virus in his state was similar to those in Italy and Spain.