6.6m new jobless claims add to strains

The shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic continues to pound the US economy, as 6.6 million people filed initial jobless claims for the week that ended on April 4, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

The flood of jobless claims boosted the number filed in the past three weeks to more than 16 million, compared with a total of 11.5 million this year through March 14, just before government stay-at-home orders essentially shut down the economy and put millions out of work.

On the medical front, White House adviser doctor Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that the death toll from the coronavirus in the United States could be closer to 60,000, assuming full social distancing, rather than the previously projected 100,000 to 240,000 put out by the White House.

Fauci warned that the US cannot be reopened overnight due to the threat of further waves of infections, but said it could be up and running again by the summer months.

A total of 462,135 COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States as of 9 pm Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, with a death toll of 16,513, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

In New York, over the past two weeks the number of virus patients hospitalized has grown more and more slowly, from more than 20 percent a day at one point to single-digit percentage increases this past week. From Wednesday to Thursday, the number increased by 200 to 18,279, or just 1 percent.

In Chicago, nearly 450 inmates and staff have tested positive for coronavirus at the city's largest jail, officials said on Thursday, representing one of the nation's largest outbreaks of the respiratory illness at a single site so far in the pandemic.

The surge of cases at Cook County Jail marks the latest flare-up of COVID-19 at jails and prisons in major cities across the country, where detainees often live in close quarters.

Meanwhile, a sailor from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was admitted to the intensive care unit in Guam after testing positive for the coronavirus last month. Now there are 416 crew members infected and 1,164 test results pending.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that he believes the US economy could be ready to reopen by the end of May, "as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues".

Elsewhere in the Americas, Brazil had more than 18,000 cases of COVID-19 and 950 deaths as of Friday, according to data by Johns Hopkins University.

Brazil's Amazonas state warned on Thursday that its health system has been overwhelmed by the coronavirus outbreak, with all intensive care beds and ventilators already in use.

Manaus, a city of 2 million in the heart of the Amazon rainforest and the capital of Amazonas, has been particularly hard hit, with 800 confirmed cases. The state as a whole has had 40 deaths out of around 900 confirmed cases. Manaus is the only city in the state with intensive care units.

Chen Yingqun in Beijing, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.