Coronavirus Deaths to Surge in U.S., France as Rampage Continues

(Bloomberg) --

The U.S., France and three other countries will probably experience at least 5,000 deaths each in the coming week from the new coronavirus as the contagion continues its global rampage, a new report shows.

Italy, the U.K. and Spain are also projected to face a heavy death toll in a forecast issued Tuesday by researchers at Imperial College London and other groups. The scientists, led by Neil Ferguson and Pierre Nouvellet, will now publish transmission and mortality estimates weekly for 42 countries.

Ferguson’s team has advised several European governments on the Covid-19 pandemic and was instrumental in persuading U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson -- now in intensive care due to the virus -- to implement a quarantine to slow the contagion.

In the U.S., President Donald Trump and his economic advisers are talking about returning Americans to work even as the outbreak mushrooms to hundreds of thousands of cases.

The new coronavirus has sickened more than 1.4 million people worldwide and killed more than 80,000. Hospitals in a number of countries are under pressure and bracing for a further surge in cases.

As the U.K. heads into its epidemic peak, the government is contending with criticism over its handling of the crisis, with hospitals short of protective equipment and testing trailing efforts in other countries.

Algeria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey are each expected to have 1,000 to 5,000 deaths in the coming week, according to the Imperial College forecast. Transmission of the virus is stabilizing in Italy and Iran, it said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.