US records 749 virus deaths in past 24 hours: tracker

The coronavirus pandemic killed 749 people in the United States in the past 24 hours, according to figures released Saturday by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest deaths bring the total in the United States to 109,791, and there have been more than 1.9 million cases, according to a real-time tally maintained by the Baltimore-based university at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Sunday).

Some 500,000 people have recovered from the disease.

The United States has suffered by far the largest number of both COVID-19 deaths and infections.

On a per capita basis, however, several European countries—including France, Italy and Spain—have a higher death toll.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States was "largely through" the pandemic and renewed his call on governors to ease lockdown measures in their states.

While the United States was suffering around 3,000 deaths a day in mid-April, that number has declined to around 1,000 deaths and 20,000 new cases a day at present.

But health care professionals worry mass demonstrations against police brutality and racism taking place in cities across the US may lead to a new surge in infections in the coming weeks.

© 2020 AFP