US adds more than 1,800 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours

Yonkers Fire Department EMTs, clothed in full personal protective equipment (PPE), assist to transport a patient with Covid-19 symptoms to a hospital on April 14, 2020 in Yonkers, Westchester County, New York. PHOTO | JOHN MOORE | GETTY IMAGES | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The country -- hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities -- has now confirmed a total of 1,389,935 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.

The United States recorded 1,813 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 84,059, according to the latest real-time tally Wednesday reported by Johns Hopkins University.

The country -- hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities -- has now confirmed a total of 1,389,935 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.

This comes as the US accuses Chinese hackers of trying to steal Covid-19 vaccine research, ratcheting up tensions between the superpowers as markets slumped on warnings from the US Federal Reserve that prolonged shutdowns could cause "lasting damage."

Europe, meanwhile, pushed ahead with plans to gradually reopen for summer tourism, even as fears persist of a second wave of infections in the pandemic that has forced more than half of humanity behind closed doors in recent months.

With some countries scrambling after a fresh surge in cases and the global death toll exceeding 294,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the virus "may never go away."

There is no proven therapy for Covid-19. An effective vaccine could allow countries and economies to fully reopen and potentially earn millions of dollars for its creators.

Amid such high stakes, hackers linked to Beijing are attempting to steal research and intellectual property related to treatments and vaccines, two US security agencies warned.

"China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation's response to Covid-19," the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said.

Neither agency offered evidence or examples to support the allegation.
Washington, which has confirmed almost 1.4 million US cases of the virus and more than 84,000 deaths, has increasingly blamed Beijing for the outbreak that first emerged in China late last year.

Beijing has repeatedly denied the US accusations.