U.S. surpasses China, Italy as country with the most coronavirus cases

The U.S. has more confirmed cases of the coronavirus than any country in the world, surpassing China, where the pandemic began. There are now more than 85,000 cases in America and nearly 1,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Almost 3.3 million people filed for unemployment last week as the virus shuttered businesses and halted normal life across large swaths of the country. The record-shattering number claims was nearly five times larger than the previous weekly record set in 1982. 

Early Thursday, the Senate passed a sweeping, historic $2 trillion relief package to help workers, businesses and the severely strained health care system survive the pandemic. 

Donald Trump, the US president, said the figures were a “tribute to our testing” and that he would speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping later on Thursday.

Number one, you don't know what the numbers are in China,” Mr Trump said at a White House press conference. “We are testing tremendous numbers of people.” The latest US figures underscore how the centre of gravity for the coronavirus pandemic has shifted from Asia to the West. The US overtook China on the same day Beijing said it was temporarily suspending visits from almost all foreign nationals — a marked reversal to policies implemented in the US and Europe in January to limit travellers coming from the Asian country. China, where the global outbreak first began, does not include positive tests from people who did not exhibit symptoms in its totals, casting doubt on the data. There are now 523,163 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Beijing’s decision to block arrivals by foreign nationals, announced by China’s foreign ministry on Thursday, will prevent entry by almost all holders of visas and residence permits starting from Saturday. A small number of diplomatic visa holders would be exempt, the ministry said.