By Beyza Binnur Donmez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The number of people in the U.S. who have died from the novel coronavirus has surpassed the 10,000 mark, according to data Monday by Johns Hopkins University.
The university's running tally counted 10,335 deaths and 347,003 cases as the U.S. struggles to curb the outbreak.
The new mark came a day after U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned the week ahead will the "hardest and the saddest" one for the country.
"This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans' lives. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment and our 9/11 moment only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country," said Adams said on "Fox News Sunday."
On Saturday, President Donald Trump said the country will see "a lot of death" next week because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
"This will probably be the toughest week between this week and next week. And, there will be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn't done," he said at a White House's COVID-19 task force news conference.
The doctor leading the White House's coronavirus response team, Deborah Birx, presented a model Wednesday for the potential number of deaths from the virus in the U.S.
It showed between 100,000 and 240,000 could die if the U.S. follows social distancing and public health guidelines. Without any intervention, the model forecasts 1.5 to 2 million deaths.
New York is the state worst-hit by the pandemic with nearly 5,000 deaths. Of the confirmed 130,689 infections in the state, a total of 4,758 people have died, up from 4,159 recorded on Sunday.
The U.S. has become the country with the most confirmed coronavirus infections followed by Spain, Italy and Germany after the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. It has since spread to at least 184 countries and regions.
There are nearly 1,310,000 confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide and more than 72,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. More than 273,500 people have recovered from the disease.