More than 1,000 people have died in the US after testing positive for coronavirus, as the global death toll from the outbreak topped 21,000.
It came as the Senate passed the biggest stimulus bill in American history in a bid to cope with the economic fallout from the pandemic, steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems.
But with the latest, dramatic spike in the death toll, US health experts fear the crisis is far from over. More than 250 infected people died from the virus in a single day for the first time to bring the nationwide tally to at least 1,035.
The bill passed unanimously by the Senate still has to be ratified by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the president.
It includes a massive cash giveaway of $1,200 to every US taxpayer earning less than $75,000-a-year, with an additional $500 for each child.
It also increases unemployment benefits for the millions made jobless by the pandemic, a $367 billion program to help small businesses pay staff they have been forced to lay-off during the shutdown and another $500 billion to keep ailing companies afloat.
A $150 billion injection of cash into the nation’s hard-pressed hospital system should also provide more beds for those seriously ill with the virus.
"It’s been a long hard road with a remarkable number of twists and turns, but for the sake of millions of Americans, it will be worth it," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Earlier, he said: "This is a strange and evil disease. When we pass this bill, instead of hugging each other, we’ll wave from a distance."
There was a glimmer of hope in New York, the worst-hit US state, where Governor Andrew Cuomo said there were early signs that social distancing was paying off with a slight slowdown in the rate of hospitalisations from the disease.
Hospitalisations in the state are now doubling every five days rather than every two days and Westchester County, which had the first cases of the virus in New York, has shown a significant decrease in the number of new infections.
‘The evidence suggests that the density control measures may be working,’ said Mr Cuomo. ‘In Westchester we have dramatically slowed what was an exponential increase.’
But the governor insisted: ‘We’re still on the way up the mountain.’
Amid fears of a surge in victims over the next fortnight in New York City, workers were today building a makeshift morgue with rows of white tents outside Bellevue Hospital and health officials repeated pleas for desperately needed ventilators and medical equipment.
In New York alone, there have been more than 30,800 cases and at least 290 people have died, the majority of them in New York City.
Last night, Donald Trump softened his claims that America could be ‘open for business’ by Easter, acknowledging that some states wouldn’t be able to meet his deadline.
He went on to attack the media for questioning his plan to loosen America’s social distancing efforts and try and get the country back to work as soon as possible.
‘The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,’ he tweeted early today. ‘The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!’
Meanwhile, speaking at the White House, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the coronavirus may ‘become seasonal’ and return in cycles after the initial pandemic calms.
‘We really need to be prepared for another cycle. And what we're doing, I believe, will prepare us well,’ he added.
Globally, the death toll has now passed 21,000. The number of fatalities in Spain has risen past 3,400, eclipsing that of China where the virus was first detected in December, after a one-day spike of 700 fatalities.
Spain’s count is now second only to that of Italy, with more than 7,500 deaths.
Lidia Perera, a nurse at Madrid’s 1,000-bed Hospital de la Paz, said more workers were desperately needed, adding: “We are collapsing.”
The Spanish parliament voted to allow the government extend strict stay-at-home rules and business closings until April 11.
In other developments, South Korea reported 104 new cases and five more deaths, bringing its totals to 9,241 infections and 131 deaths.
China’s National Health Commission on Thursday reported 67 new Covid-19 cases, all of which it says were imported infections in recent arrivals from abroad.
Once again, there were no new cases reported in Wuhan, the city where the virus emerged in December. After a months-long lockdown, Wuhan residents are allowed out of the city, but cannot leave the surrounding province of Hubei until April 8.
Citing the coronavirus, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday postponed a nationwide vote on proposed constitutional amendments that include a change potentially allowing him to stay in office until 2036. The country reported its first two deaths from the virus on Wednesday.
The French Riviera city of Cannes opened the site of its world-famous film festival to the homeless.
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