Donald Trump ditches hopes of quick virus bounce-back for US

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Sunday abandoned his timetable for life returning to normal in the United States, extending emergency coronavirus restrictions for another month, while Spain suffered its deadliest day.

Trump, who had hoped to shortly re-open much of the US, said the death rate in the country was likely to increase for two weeks and announced “social distancing” guidelines would be in place until at least the end of April.

More than 40 percent of the world s population has been asked to stay at home to halt the deadly march of a disease that has claimed some 33,880 lives.

Hospitals are rapidly filling with patients in Europe and the United States — now the focal points of a pandemic that began in Asia but has upended the global economy and upset everyday life in unprecedented ways.

Spain announced 838 deaths in a 24-hour period, the third consecutive day it has seen a rise.

The US has witnessed explosive growth in coronavirus cases, including a doubling in cases in only two days, with New York hardest hit.

Trump said the better that Americans obey the emergency guidelines to stay home “the faster this whole nightmare will end.”

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won,” Trump said, altering his previously upbeat tone.

He said he expected the country to “be well on our way to recovery” by June 1 — dropping his previous target of mid-April.

“We will defeat this invisible curse, this invisible enemy,” he added.

Senior US scientist Anthony Fauci issued a tentative prediction that COVID-19 could claim from 100,000 to 200,000 lives — a figure Trump described as “horrible.”

As of Sunday, more than 3.38 billion people were asked or ordered to follow confinement measures, according to an AFP database, as the virus infects every sphere of life, wiping out millions of jobs, postponing elections and pressing pause on the sporting scene.

Worst-hit Italy, with 10,779 deaths, and Spain, with 6,803 dead, together have accounted for more than half of the world s deaths.

Both countries are clinging to the hope, however, that they are closing in on the peak of the crisis.