With the latest update of Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker, the US has tallied 100,717 cases of the virus, surpassing Italy, the next hardest-hit country, by more than 14,000 patients. Both have now overtaken China, where the outbreak originated, as new infections on the mainland continue to flatline, RT reported.
The news of the US reaching the new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic comes after US President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to force automakers to manufacture life-saving ventilators for the COVID-19 patients who have developed severe complications from the illness.
In a bid to revitalize the US economy, badly crippled by the coronavirus lockdowns, that sent unemployment claims surging to the record high of over three million, Trump also signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus and relief bill on - passed by the House earlier on Friday.
The US, along with several other hardest-hit countries, including France and Italy, have turned to the military for help to push back against the COVID-19 spread. Friday also saw Trump signing an executive order greenlighting the call-up of up to one million reservists in the army, air force and coast guard.