BREAKING NEWS

US could reach 200,000 coronavirus deaths in September, expert says

 The United States may see 200,000 deaths because of the coronavirus at some point in September, a leading expert said, while total U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million on Wednesday as governments relax restrictions.

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard's Global Health Institute, told CNN in an interview on Wednesday that without drastic action, the number of U.S. deaths would march on.

"Even if we don't have increasing cases, even if we keep things flat, it's reasonable to expect that we're going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime during the month of September," Jha said. "And that's just through September. The pandemic won't be over in September."

Total US coronavirus-related deaths totaled 112,754 on Wednesday, the most in the world.