WASHINGTON: The United States, the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, now has the highest single-day death toll and three times more confirmed cases than any other country.

The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has four times as many deaths as China, where the pandemic began, and which has the world largest population. By Thursday afternoon the United States had almost 770,000 confirmed cases and 34,000 deaths.

New York is the worst hit with almost 220,000 and 16,500 deaths, as more people were being admitted into hospitals with symptoms.

The increasing numbers also alarmed the city’s health workers who took to the streets earlier this week to demonstrate over a lack of protective equipment for them. In most hospitals, special measures have been taken to separate potentially ill people from the staff.

Earlier this week, New York’s iconic landmark, the Empire State Building was lit in red to pay tribute to health workers who are on the front line of the response to the pandemic.

In Connecticut, Pakistani physician Dr Saud Anwar received an “unsung hero’s parade” for his efforts to fight coronavirus.

Dr Anwar, an AKUH alumnus and a Connecticut state senator, jointly developed a ventilator device that enables seven patients to be treated at once.

“I’m sharing my experience and my passion to do my part in fighting for every single person” affected by this virus, said Dr Anwar who shared information about the ventilator device on his Facebook page, including a video demonstrating how the device works.

On Wednesday morning, the total US deaths were close to 26,000, which rose to more than 33,000 by Thursday morning, an addition of almost 5,000.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2020