US coronavirus deaths rose by 2,228 in a single-day record on Tuesday as President Donald Trump escalated his feud with the World Health Organization announcing a hold on US funding for it in a move widely seen as an attempt to deflect mounting criticism of his administration’s missteps in handling the outbreak.

More than 25,980 people had died of the coronavirus in the United States till Tuesday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker and 608,377 had been infected - almost a third of the total number of cases in the world, which was close to 2 million; the toll worldwide was 126,557.

Tuesday was the worst the United States had seen yet, overtaking the previous single-day record of 2,069, last Friday. Public health officials had warned before that this week and the one before would be the most painful yet, with comparisons to pivotal events in US history such as the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Reuters news agency reported the real toll was far in excess as it did not include the 3,700 deaths in New York City that had been presumed to be coronavirus-related but had not been tested.

Story Credit ; Hindustan Times