Washington [EFE]. The United States became the first country in the world to register an increase of more than 2,000 deaths from coronavirus in a single day on Friday and exceeded half a million cases, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

In the last 24 hours, at least 2,108 people have lost their lives to the virus in the United States, so that in total the number of fatalities is 18,637, very close to Italy, which with 18,849 deaths continues to be the nation most mourned by the pandemic, according to the same source.

The figure of 2,108 deaths across the United States shows an increase from the previous three days, when 1,878, 1,936 and 1,879 deaths were recorded.

60% of those killed in the last 24 hours in the United States lived in three states: New York , where 777 people lost their lives, as well as the neighboring state of New Jersey with 232 fatalities and Michigan, where there were 205 deaths, in a figure that supposes a record for that state of the midwest of the country.

Nurses and health workers mourn and remember their colleagues who died from the new coronavirus during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan in New York City. (Photo: AFP / Johannes Eisele)

On the other hand, shortly after 01:30 GMT on Saturday, the number of infections detected in the United States jumped and exceeded half a million cases by specifically registering 500,399, according to Johns Hopkins University, which also indicates that 28,790 patients have recovered.

In this way, the United States remains the focus of the pandemic and leads the number of infections in the world ahead of Spain, where there are 158,273 cases and 16,081 people have lost their lives; followed by Italy with 147,577 infected and 18,849 deceased; and France with 125,931 cases and 13,197 deaths, details the educational center.

According to this source, this Friday the deaths by COVID-19 in the world exceeded 100,000, while there are more than one and a half million people infected.

Within the United States , the most affected city is New York, which woke up this Friday with shocking images of mass graves on the island of Hart, northeast of the Bronx neighborhood.

The authorities have decided to make this type of burial temporarily until family members claim the bodies in order to celebrate a private burial in the future.

Earlier this week, the New York City Council had already announced that it was evaluating taking measures like this given the daily increase in deaths and the collapse of funeral homes and cemeteries. Many hospitals have refrigerated trucks on their back doors that serve as mobile morgues.

At the federal level, the White House had estimated that the coronavirus could leave between 100,000 and 240,000 dead, but this week reduced that projection to 60,000.

In total, 42 of the country’s 50 states, in addition to Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, have issued decrees to compel their citizens to stay home, which means that approximately 95% of the US population (about 316 million people) are being held.