US death toll in coronavirus outbreak passes 20,000: Johns Hopkins

The US death toll in the coronavirus outbreak topped 20,000 on Saturday, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The outbreak has now claimed the lives of at least 20,071 people in the US, which also leads the world in the number of confirmed infections with 519,453, by the Baltimore-based school's count.

Italy, the hardest-hit country in Europe with a population a fifth the size of the US, was also approaching the grim milestone with 19,468 declared virus fatalities.