U.S. death toll from novel coronavirus outbreak tops 15,000

U.S. deaths due to coronavirus topped 15,700 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, although there are signs the pandemic might be nearing a peak.

U.S. officials warned Americans to expect alarming numbers of coronavirus deaths this week, even as an influential university model on Wednesday scaled back its projected U.S. pandemic death toll by 26% to 60,000.

U.S. deaths set new daily records on Tuesday and Wednesday with over 1,900 new deaths reported each day, according to a Reuters tally.

Only Italy has more deaths with 17,669 deaths reported on Wednesday. Spain reported 15,238 deaths on Thursday.

European countries, including hardest-hit Italy and Spain, have started looking ahead to easing lockdowns but their coronavirus-related fatality rates have fluctuated after initially showing a decline.

In Spain after two days of increases, the daily death toll decreased on Thursday.

Italy imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 9 to slow the spread of the virus and Spain followed on March 14. New York state required all residents to stay home except for essential businesses on March 20 and now more than 94% of Americans are under similar orders but the United States has resisted a national stay-at-home order.

The bulk of the U.S. virus-related deaths came two days after President Donald Trump warned this week would be "very painful" for the country for coronavirus-related casualties.

"During this painful week, we see glimmers of very, very strong hope. This will be a very painful week…at least part of next week, probably," Trump said.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams also warned it would be a very hard week for the country.

"This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans' lives. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment and our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country," he told Fox News Sunday.

Overall, the virus has spread to 184 countries, infecting 1.5 million people since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The global death toll is approaching 90,000, while nearly 340,000 have recovered.