Amid rising COVID-19 death toll, Pentagon orders '100,000 body bags': Report

After US defence secretary Mark Esper said that the United States needed to "plan for a few months at least" to fight the coronavirus, a report has emerged which said Pentagon is seeking thousands of "body bags" amid the soaring death rate due to the virus.

Also Read: US records highest single-day death toll due to coronavirus at 884

According to reports, the Pentagon has requested for at least "100,000 body bags". The death toll in the US due to virus went past 5,000 on Wednesday with the number expected to rise as US President Trump on Wednesday warned the nation should be prepared for "very, very painful next two weeks".

"I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead," the US president added while preparing the nation for the battles ahead.

The US now has the largest number of infected cases of coronavirus numbering 216,722. 

Last Sunday, senior US scientist Anthony Fauci had issued a cautious prediction that the coronavirus could claim 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the country, a claim Trump termed as "horrible" while describing the pandemic as "a plague."

However, Anthony Fauci added that "mitigation is actually working" and that authorities are "doing everything" to get it the death toll significantly under control.

Health experts has warned that there is no "magic vaccine"  or therapy and that health officials will have to do everything they can at the present to fight the virus.