US Death Toll From Coronavirus Eclipses China's Official Count

Worldwide, over 8L people were infected and over 39K people died

NEW YORK: The US death toll from the Coronavirus climbed past 3,500 Tuesday, eclipsing China’s official count, as New York’s mammoth convention center started taking patients to ease the burden on the city’s overwhelmed health system and the tennis center where the US Open is held was being turned into a hospital.

Also, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, the brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, disclosed that he has become infected and has quarantined himself in his basement.

Elsewhere around the world, hard-hit Italy reported that the infection rate appears to be leveling off and new cases could start declining, but that the crisis is far from over. Spain, too, struggled to fend off the collapse of its hospital system. Vladimir Putin’s Russia moved to crack down on quarantine violations and “fake news” about the outbreak. And China edged closer to normal as stores in the epicenter city of Wuhan began reopening.

Worldwide, more than 800,000 people have been infected and over 39,000 people have died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Italy and Spain accounted for half the deaths, while the U.S. had around 3,550 by midday, eclipsing China’s official toll of about 3,300.