File photo: Drone pictures show bodies being buried on New York's Hart Island, amid the coronavirus outbreak on April 9, 2020 Reuters

On the same day, Bangladesh also reached the milestone of 5,000 Covid-19 deaths

In the predawn hours of March 30, Dr Deborah Birx stepped in front of the camera on the White House lawn and made an alarming prediction about the coronavirus, which had, by then, killed fewer than 3,000 people in the United States.

“If we do things together, well, almost perfectly, we can get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities,” Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, told Savannah Guthrie of NBC News’ “Today” show.

On Tuesday, Birx's prediction came true, as the number of lives lost to Covid-19 in the US topped 200,000. On the same day, Bangladesh also reached the milestone of 5,000 Covid-19 deaths.

However, it took 189 days for 5,000 coronavirus-infected people to die in Bangladesh which happened in just 33 days in the US.

Now, many experts are making another ominous prediction: A surge in the number of new infections in the fall and winter, combined with growing fatigue over social distancing and other public health measures, could result in more than 415,000 deaths in the US by January, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Record weekly global cases

In a fresh global update, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the pandemic appears to be accelerating worldwide, with new cases soaring last week to a new seven-day high of almost two million.

This marks a 6% increase over a week earlier and "the highest number of reported cases in a single week since the beginning of the epidemic," the UN health agency says.

However, even as cases shoot up across much of the world, the number of new deaths is going down, the WHO statistics show.

New measures in UK

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The UK government announces new measures to stem a rising tide of cases, shutting pubs in England early and abandoning its call for people to return to the workplace.

Plans to allow the phased return of fans to sporting venues in England from October 1 will also be put on hold.

Limited movement in Madrid

Spain's health minister calls on residents of Madrid to limit their movements and social contacts to the "essential" to put the brakes on a surge in infections.

Madrid is the epicenter of Spain's second wave, with a rate of infection of nearly 700 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks -- nearly three times the national average.

Toned down Nobel ceremony

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in December will be scaled back this year, the head of the Nobel Institute says.

This year's event will not be held in the main room of Oslo's City Hall, which can accomodate 1,000 guests, but in the auditorium of Oslo University, which can host around 100 people.

The banquet usually held in honour of the laureate the same evening has been cancelled outright.



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