Coronavirus cases in US surpass 7,000 with 117 deaths reported

Number of cases surge as testing ramps up across the country

The United States has confirmed at least 7,000 cases of coronavirus, according to the latest local and state data, as hospitals prepare to be potentially inundated with patients amid a severe shortage of critical supplies.

With testing ramping up nationwide and governors declaring states of emergency, tens of millions of Americans have isolated themselves in homes and apartments. The death toll in the country has meanwhile risen to at least 117.

Cases of the new coronavirus have surged in recent days as testing continues to get rolled out in medical facilities across the country. On Tuesday, West Virginia became the 50th state in the country to officially confirm a case of the sweeping pandemic after local officials cited significant issues in receiving testing kits.

“If we don’t even have the tests to identify who is ill, who needs treatment … what do we do?” West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin told CNN earlier this week. "I don't have the ventilators. I don't have the respirators. I don't have anything available to that many people that are that vulnerable."

Those fears were prevalent across many other states in the country, like Florida and South Carolina, which became two of the latest states on Tuesday to shutter bars and restaurants to patrons. Those states have limited dining options for consumers while expanding delivery options like New York City, which has changed its local ordinances to allow bars to deliver drinks and food to local patrons.

The White House has meanwhile sought an economic relief package nearing a reported $1 trillion, including a floated plan to provide checks to virtually all Americans (save for millionaires, according to officials) in an effort to combat the slowdown seen in the stock market amid fears surrounding the global pandemic.

Those checks could amount to more than $1,000 in some cases, according to the Treasury Department, which said the president was hoping to send the form of relief to everyday citizens "immediately". Meanwhile, the administration was also hoping to supply a bailout package to the airline industry, which has requested aid from the federal government after suffering a historic downturn as society came to a grinding halt and countless passengers cancelled or delayed flights in recent weeks.

Medical facilities and hospitals across the country have meanwhile warned that they will soon run out of critical supplies to provide life-saving services to Covid-19 patients, including face masks and ventilators.

Mr Trump's administration has begun supplying military assistance to states battling major outbreaks of the coronavirus, like New York, which will soon receive a military hospital ship that will supply an additional thousand beds to the state. New York currently has the most confirmed cases of any state in the country.

The federal government released a 100-page report on Friday, just as the president announced a national emergency, warning that the virus could impact the country for 18 months or more.

That report, which outlined how the government could provide broad powers to the president to release critical medical supplies from the nation's stockpile, also warned that the pandemic could impact the country in "multiple waves".