JUST IN: COVID-19 Cases In The United States Pass Two Million

The United States has passed the grim milestone of two million confirmed Covid-19 cases, the most of any nation in the world by far.

The figure on Thursday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, listed 2,000,464 infections.

Brazil is next for the highest number of confirmed cases, with 772,416, but the US is the most severely affected country because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The US has also recorded by far the world’s most deaths, with 112,908, and became the first nation to hit one million cases six weeks ago, a figure that has doubled since.

Surpassing two million cases came as a leading health expert warned the US could have 200,000 Covid-19 deaths by September.

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, told CNN that drastic action was needed or the US death toll would continue to rise.

“Even if we don’t have increasing cases, even if we keep things flat, it’s reasonable to expect that we’re going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime during the month of September,” Jha said on Wednesday.

“And that’s just through September. The pandemic won’t be over in September.

“I’m really worried about where we’re going to be in the weeks and months ahead.”