Record single-day Covid-19 death toll in US, Trump puts WHO funding on hold

More than 25,980 people had died of the coronavirus within the US till Tuesday evening, in keeping with the Johns Hopkins tracker and 608,377 had been infected - almost a third of the overall number of cases within the world, which was near 2 million; the toll worldwide was 126,557.

Tuesday was the worst the US had seen yet, overtaking the previous single-day record of 2,069, last Friday. Public health officials had warned before that in the week and therefore the one before would be the foremost painful yet, with comparisons to pivotal events in US history like the pearl harbor attacks in 1941 and also the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2001.

Reuters press agency reported the $64000 toll was far in excess as it failed to include the 3,700 deaths in new york city that had been presumed to be coronavirus-related but had not been tested.

The surge in cases and deaths came amidst growing optimism that the country is also nearing the height after which these numbers will begin to travel down. Officials have cited the flattening of the curve in some hotspots like new york and New Jersey, among signs that give them hope.

The Trump administration has been pushing for reopening the country, the society and also the economy. The president announced Tuesday bipartisan groups of advisers he is consulting to determine the way forward shortly. The choice to finish or continue social-distancing and other mitigation efforts would rest ultimately with state governors.

The president acknowledged the maximum amount at the daily briefing Tuesday, dialling down an escalating feud with governors, several whom have publicly pushed back against his claims of "total" authority decide when to finish the mitigation measures and threatened to defy him if he persisted.

But the president predictably dialled up his spat with the World Health Organization, which is within the middle of leading a world response to the epidemic that had hit nearly 160 countries, killed over a quarter of 1,000,000 people and infected near two million people.

"We haven't been treated properly," Trump said, as he announced the suspension of the US funding, which is around $450 million, for a period of 60 to 90 days.

During the duration of the hold, the president said, the US will conduct a review to "assess the world Health Organization's role and severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus".

The president accused the WHO of not alerting the world about the critical significance of the outbreak, opposing his administration's ban on foreigners travelling from China so for siding with China and helping it conceal verity extent of its outbreak; a listing of complaints he has aired before.

The president has come under mounting criticism for his administration's delayed and botched response to the outbreak, stemming partially from his reluctance to acknowledge the seriousness of the upcoming crisis and delaying mitigation efforts till much after the first cases and fatalities.

Trump's criticism of the WHO of its response to the outbreak so papering over China's suppression of numbers run counter to his praise for both the world body and China.

"CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) & World Health are working hard and extremely smart," he tweeted in February. And he has praised China often in tweets and remarks.

President Trump has severe US ties with a variety of world bodies or scaled them down now: the Paris Accord on global climate change (2017), UNESCO (2017), Iran deal (2018) and UNHCR (2018). The president has complained about US contributions to world bodies like the World organization.