Nurses and healthcare workers mourn and remember their colleagues who died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (which causes COVID-19) during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on April 10, 2020 in New York City. – The global coronavirus death toll topped 100,000 on April 10 as Easter celebrations around the world kicked off in near-empty churches with billions of people stuck indoors to halt the pandemic’s deadly worldwide march. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP)
WASHINGTON — The United States on Friday became the first country to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in one day, with 2,108 fatalities in the past 24 hours, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
The U.S. has now recorded 18,586 deaths and is closing in on the toll of 18,849 dead in Italy, which has seen the most fatalities so far in the global pandemic.
The U.S. is also approaching half a million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 496,535 as of 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Saturday), an increase of 35,098 in the past 24 hours.