(Reuters) – U.S. coronavirus deaths rose above 33,000 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, even as President Donald Trump laid out White House guidelines for reopening the economy.
The United States is the world’s worst-affected country with fatalities doubling in just a week.
Deaths rose by nearly 2,200 on Thursday, with a few U.S. states yet to report, after a record single-day increase of 2,507 Wednesday.
Seven Northeastern states on Thursday extended a shutdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak until May 15. The extensions, and stay-at-home directives, came as Trump touted his plan for the least-affected states to reopen May 1 or sooner.
The shutdown has crushed the nation’s economy, sinking it to levels not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago as more than 20 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits after losing their paychecks from shuttered businesses and industries.
U.S. coronavirus cases totaled more than 665,000 on Thursday, up nearly 28,000. New cases rose by 30,000 on Wednesday, the biggest increase in five days, according to the Reuters tally.
(Writing by Lisa Shumaker; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown)
