Trump warns 'a lot of death' next week from COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday 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.

His remarks came as the country's death toll approached 8,200 and diagnosed cases nears 305,000. So far, 14,500 people have recovered.

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.

The U.S. has become the country with the most confirmed coronavirus infections, followed by Spain and Italy with 124,700 and 124,600, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, the virus has since spread to 181 countries and regions.

There are nearly 1.2 million confirmed infections worldwide and 64,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. Nearly 246,000 have recovered.