WASHINGTON, April 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nearly 2,000 people infected with the new coronavirus have died in the United States in the last 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 pm Tuesday.
The record daily figure of 1,939 brings the total number of deaths in the US to 12,722, which is approaching tolls in the worst-hit countries so far — Italy with 17,127 dead and Spain with 13,798 — and with nearly 400,000 cases the country has the most in the world.
President Donald Trump has defended his response to the crisis, and on Tuesday he blamed the World Health Organization for reacting slowly.
He questioned why the WHO had given “such a faulty recommendation,” apparently referring to the UN body’s advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.
“They called it wrong. They really missed the call. They could have called it months earlier,” he said.
Trump has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.
Trump told reporters that he was “going to put a very powerful hold” on funding to the WHO, the UN body whose biggest contributor is the US, accusing it of being “very biased towards China.”
Trump gave no details about how much money would be withheld and minutes later he said he would only “look at ending funding.”
China faces criticism over the way it handled the initial virus outbreak and Trump and others have expressed doubt over the accuracy of Chinese statistics for cases and deaths.
In New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state appeared be nearing the peak of its pandemic but urged New Yorkers to continue staying indoors.
“I know it’s hard but we have to keep doing it,” he said.
A New York City funeral home director, Pat Marmo, said he was dealing with three times more bodies than normal. “It’s almost like 9/11, going on for days and days and days,” he said.
Despite stay-at-home orders, voters in another US state, Wisconsin, went to the polls to cast ballots in the Democratic presidential primary and local elections.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel showed a mask-wearing woman in line to vote holding a sign bearing the message: “THIS IS RIDICULOUS.” — NNN-AGENCIES
