Nearly 2,000 people died from the new coronavirus in the United States in the last 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of Tuesday night.
The record daily figure of 1,939 brings the total number of deaths in the United States to 12,722. That number is approaching tolls in the worst-hit countries so far -- Italy with 17,127 dead and Spain with 13,798, noted AFP.
Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump warned in his daily press briefing that this week will be "very painful" for the US, but he also indicated he was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel
"During this painful week, we see glimmers of very, very strong hope. This will be a very painful week…at least part of next week, probably," said Trump.
"If one person dies, it's a painful week, and we know that's unfortunately going to happen. This is a monster we're fighting," he added.
Trump also said indications showed the country's strategy to fight the disease is "totally working."
"Every American has a role to play in winning this war, and we are going to win it very powerfully," he added.
Trump also said at the press briefing that he would consider placing a hold on US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its handling of the novel coronavirus.
“They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier. They would have known, and they should have known, and they probably did know,” Trump said, suggesting the WHO failed to sufficiently warn the global community about the virus.
“We’re going to be looking into that very carefully, and we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it, and we’re going to see. It’s a great thing if it works, but when they call every shot wrong, that’s not good,” he added.
Later, however, when pressed by a reporter on whether it was a good idea to put a hold on funding during a global pandemic, Trump somewhat walked back his earlier comments.
“I’m not going to say I’m going to do it,” Trump said. “We will look at ending funding.”