US confirms one million coronavirus cases

The US has confirmed crossing one million coronavirus cases, making up almost a third of the total global tally. A total of 1,012,583 tested positive in the country as of Wednesday morning, according to the data provided by Johns Hopkins University.

With more than 58,000 deaths, more Americans have died with Covid-19 than died in the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975.

It has all happened in about three months. The country's first case was confirmed January 21.

In spite of receiving warnings from national health leaders that the country could face a second wave of the virus in late 2020, states and cities are currently busy drafting or implementing plans to get people out of their homes and back into mainstream life.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, 5.6 million of the estimated 328 million people in the country have been tested for the virus. Still, testing is not as widely available as US President Donald Trump says and many governors say they are running low on testing equipment.

The lack of testing "is probably the Number one problem in America, and has been from the beginning of this crisis," said Maryland's Republican Governor Larry Hogan, the chairman of the National Governors Association.

The number of cases would be substantially higher if testing was more readily available and steady increases are to be expected as testing expands further, he said.

(Source: BBC/Sky News)

/teb