Coronavirus death toll in United States passes 4,000

Total number of deaths in America more than double the tally on Saturday; over 40% of fatalities in New York State

The total US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 4,000 early Wednesday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The number of deaths was 4,076 — more than twice the 2,010 recorded late Saturday, three days earlier.

More than 40 percent of recorded deaths nationally were in New York State, the Johns Hopkins data showed.

On Tuesday, coronavirus deaths in the United States exceeded the toll in China, where the pandemic emerged in December before spreading worldwide.

The number of confirmed US cases has reached 189,510, the most in the world, though Italy and Spain have recorded more fatalities.

After initially downplaying the threat from the new coronavirus in the early stages of the US outbreak, US President Donald Trump warned of “a very, very painful two weeks” to come for the country on Tuesday.

The White House projected there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained.

Medical workers take samples from patients at a new coronavirus drive-in test center at the exhibition grounds in Hanover, Germany, on March 31, 2020. (Peter Steffen/Pool/AFP)

In Germany, there were 149 new virus deaths reported Wednesday, bringing the total there to 732, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute. There were also 5,453 new confirmed cases of the virus in the country, which has so far recorded 67,366 COVID-19 cases.

Worldwide, there have been nearly 860,000 COVID-19 cases and over 42,000 deaths since the new coronavirus emerged in December.