President Donald Trump said Friday he is expecting at least 95,000 people to die from the novel coronavirus in the US, even as he continues to push for the country to reopen.
"We may be talking about 95,000 people ultimately. We may be talking about something more than that," Trump said at the White House, before suggesting "perhaps 100,000" people could lose their lives before the outbreak is defeated.
Still, Trump said the US must continue efforts to reopen the economy "otherwise you have a broken country."
"You'll never be able to do it again. You'll never be able to build this miracle. It's a miracle what we did, what all of us did, and what many people before us did," the president said.
Several states have begun the process to restart their economies, and more are slated to begin soon as the US experienced Great Depression-level unemployment figures.
Data released by the Labor Department on Friday showed unemployment sitting at 14.7%, reflecting the loss of 20.5 million jobs in April, the highest level ever recorded since data was collected beginning in the late 1940s.
The US remains the hardest-hit country amid the global pandemic. In all, over 1.2 million have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and 76,000 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
