US could see 2 lakh deaths from COVID-19: Top health expert

New York, Mar 29: In a frightening warning, the US will see 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus, the Trump administration's topmost infection disease expert forecast on Sunday as the pandemic infected nearly 125,000 people in the country.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said in an interview on CNN that the US will certainly have “millions of cases” of COVID-19 and more than 100,000 deaths.

“Looking at what we are seeing now, I would say between 100,000-200,00” deaths from coronavirus. “We’re going to have millions of cases,” he said. "But I don’t want to be held to that” because the pandemic is “such a moving target,” Fauci added.

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, the US has 124,763 cases and witnessed 2,612 deaths as of Sunday morning.

A total of 2,612 patients have recovered, it said. Globally, the number of COVID-19 cases stand at 684,652 and more than 32,000 people have died of the disease.