Dire predictions for COVID-19 deaths in USA, infections rise steeply in India

There are dire predictions of the number of deaths in the United States - and more Americans have lost their jobs because of the Coronavirus pandemic. India is also seeing a consistent daily spike in the number of cases, making it the country with the fourth highest number of COVID-19 detections.

Workers bringing in two dead bodies to a temporary morgue in Brooklyn, New Yor. Source: Reuters

University of Washington researchers are predicting that the number of COVID-19 deaths in the US could rise to 170,000 by October.

And the death rate is set to intensify through to February next year. 

Meanwhile, another one-and-a-half million Americans have lost their jobs - the tenth weekly rise in unemployment as the Coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on a once-booming economy. 

More than 40 million people in the US have now lost their jobs since March.

Meanwhile, health services in India are struggling to cope with an influx of patients, as the country reports a record rise of nearly 10,000 new COVID-19 cases. 

It brings the national tally to more than 340,000 cases, the fourth-highest in the world, as the death toll rises to over 9,000. 

In the capital of New Delhi, half of public hospital beds dedicated to virus patients are already occupied, while seriously ill patients have been refused treatment. 

Local Nitish Bhardwaj says his father has only been seen by a doctor once since being taken to hospital for COVID-19. 

"My father was admitted here yesterday and that's why I am here. He was admitted here yesterday at three pm (0930 GMT) and a doctor came to check at that time and since then no doctor has come to check on him. My father is 60 years old and a heart patient. He has a severe cough and a fever."

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