US death toll now exceeds Vietnam war, one million infected
The United States’ death toll from the novel coronavirus has exceeded the 58,220 American lives lost during the Vietnam War as cases topped one million, according to a Reuters tally.
US soldiers in the Vietnam conflict. (Photo: the-new-york-public-library -unsplash)
US cases have doubled in 18 days and make up one-third of all infections in the world, according to the tally.
The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.
About 30 per cent of the cases have occurred in New York state, the epicentre of the US outbreak, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania.
The US death toll since the first death recorded on February 29 reached 58,233 on Tuesday, up more than 2000 from the prior day.
The outbreak could take more than 74,000 US lives by August 4, compared with an April 22 forecast of over 67,600, according to the University of Washington’s predictive model often cited by White House officials.
Globally, coronavirus cases top three million since the outbreak began in China late last year.
The US, with the world’s third-largest population, has five times as many cases as the next hardest-hit countries of Italy, Spain and France.
Of the 20 most severely affected countries, the US ranks fifth based on cases per capita, according to a Reuters tally.
The US has about 30 cases per 10,000 people. Spain ranks first at over 48 cases per 10,000 people, followed by Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.
The coronavirus deaths in the US fall short of the approximately 100,000 Americans killed by seasonal flu in 1967, according to the CDC.
It is also far less deadly than the Spanish flu, which began in 1918 and killed 675,000 Americans.
-AAP
