U.S death toll overtakes Italy as highest in world

The total number of deaths related to the novel the Coronavirus in the United States have now surpassed that of Italy.

The latest data, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, shows more than 20,000 people in the US have now died.

The grim milestone comes shortly after the US became the first nation to record more than 2,000 virus deaths in a single day.

The governor of New York Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday the state’s death toll appeared to be stabilising.

Announcing a 24-hour figure of 783 new deaths, he noted the last several days had seen around the same number.

New York state has become the epicentre of the outbreak in the US, recording more than 180,000 of the country’s nearly 530,000 cases.