US virus deaths could reach 200,000, Fauci warns as medical supplies run short

Monday, 30 March 2020 01:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

(Reuters) - U.S. deaths from coronavirus could reach 200,000 with millions of cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert warned on Sunday as New York, New Orleans and other major cities pleaded for more medical supplies.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, estimated in an interview with CNN that the pandemic could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the United States.

Since 2010, the flu has killed between 12,000 and 61,000 Americans a year, according to the website here of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 1918-19 flu pandemic killed 675,000 in the United States, according to the CDC.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 2,300 on Sunday, after deaths on Saturday more than doubled from the level two days prior. The United States has now recorded more than 130,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the most of any country in the world.