Covid-19 in US: Trump predicts 70,000 deaths as virus toll reaches 55,000

"The original projections were 2.2 million, now we're probably heading to 60,000-70,000," Trump said

During a White House news conference on Monday, US President Donald Trump projected that coronavirus deaths in the United States could touch 70,000, but said original projections were much higher. Earlier this month he had estimated that around 60,000 many people would die from Covid-19 in the US.

Trump was asked during the press conference whether an American president deserved to be re-elected after losing more Americans in six weeks than in the Vietnam War. Approximately 58,000 US troops were killed during the Vietnam War.

The Covid-19 toll in the US has already surpassed 55,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

"The original projections were 2.2 million, now we're probably heading to 60,000-70,000. It's far too many. And I think we've made a lot of really good decisions. The big decision was closing the border or banning people coming in from China."

"I think we've done a great job. I will say this, one person is too many," he added. Trump is relying on a pandemic forecast that predicted 1.5 million to 2.2 million deaths in the United States in a worst-case scenario, without efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing.