UNTHINKABLE just a few months ago, the United States on Wednesday surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, as the pandemic tightened its grip on Latin America.
With the European Union unveiling a massive recovery plan to step up its emergence from the crisis, the U.S. figure was a sobering reminder of the devastation being wreaked around the globe by a virus that only emerged late last year.
Confirmed U.S. deaths stood at 1,00,396 late Wednesday, with nearly 1.7 million infections, according to the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The 24-hour toll shot back up after three days of sharp declines, to 1,401.
Nevertheless, most U.S. states moved toward reopening restaurants and businesses, cheered on by President Donald Trump, who is eager to see the economic pain of the crisis mitigated as he seeks re-election.
The U.S. capital Washington will ease its lockdown from Friday.
Grim news came
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