World coronavirus cases near 15 million
Published:Wednesday | July 22, 2020 | 11:53 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The global tally of people infected with the coronavirus neared 15 million Wednesday, while in the worst-hit pandemic hot spot of the United States, President Donald Trump warned the pandemic would “get worse before it gets better.”
With COVID-19 set to pass another shocking milestone, Trump delivered his first virus briefing after a three-month hiatus, offering a shifted message Tuesday, including professing a new found respect for the protective face masks he has seldom worn.
It came as polls have shown Trump lagging behind Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of November’s election, and as the count of virus fatalities in the US passes 140,000.
Even so, the president worked in jabs at the news media and Democrats, and repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
As the world case count neared the 15 million mark, with more than 617,000 killed, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US has continued to see large outbreaks.
New York, once by far the leader in infections, has now been surpassed by the country’s largest state, California, for the number of cases, although that is partly due to robust testing in a state with more than twice the population of New York.
California had more than 409,000 infections, according to the Johns Hopkins count.
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.