WASHINGTON, April 18. /TASS/. The overall death toll of the novel coronavirus in the United States is currently projected at approximately 60,000-65,000 people, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday.

"Look at the possible number of deaths, 2.2 million people," he said during a White House media briefing. "A minimum, if we did nothing, could have been 1.6 million. <…> But we did a lot of work."

In his words, efforts taken by the US authorities allowed to revise the projected death toll downward to "between 100,000 and 220,000-240,000 on the upside."

"I think we would be substantially, hopefully, below the 100,000 number. I think right now we are heading at probably around 60,000, maybe 65,000," Trump said.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,190,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 147,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 553,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

The number of the coronavirus-related fatalities on the US territory has reached 36,721, according to the John Hopkins University’s data. By this point, over 692,000 people in the US were diagnosed with COVID-19.