The coronavirus pandemic notched up another round of record death tolls in the United States and Europe, dousing the optimism of US President Donald Trump who insisted there was light at the end of the tunnel.
The virus has now killed more than 86,000 people and infected 1.5 million, sparing almost no country and tipping the world into a devastating economic crisis as global commerce shudders to a halt.
For the second straight day, the US grieved nearly 2,000 deaths on Wednesday, as flags flew at half-mast in hardest-hit New York.
There was also a record death toll of 938 over 24 hours in Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third night in intensive care, his condition said to be "improving." France saw its total number of