COVID-19: US Senate approves $480 billion pandemic relief package

The US Senate on April 21 passed a nearly half-a-trillion dollar coronavirus pandemic relief package to protect small businesses in the country from shutting down. According to reports, the bill was passed after more than a week of negotiations between the Republicans and the Democrats in the US Congress. The funding is the government's latest cash infusion to prop up the economy as it had earlier approved another $450 billion package for the same purpose. 

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The latest $480 billion relief package is aimed at saving small businesses from shutting down, to expand coronavirus testing and for hospitals fighting the disease. As per reports, $320 billion will go towards small businesses, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for expansion of testing in the country. An additional $60 billion will be for disaster recovery and loan grants. Democrat Chuck Schumer praised Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for agreeing to include funds for testing.

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New York City is the most affected region in the United States, where alone more than 19,600 people have lost their lives. As per the data, the total number of infected patients in the United States stands at 8,19,175, nearly four times that of Spain, which is currently the second most affected country. There are 6,90,859 active infections in the United States, of which 45,343 have lost their lives, while 14,016 remain under critical conditions. The United States has reportedly treated 82,973 patients successfully, which is a few thousand less than Germany. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak has infected over 2.55 million people globally and has killed nearly 1,77,000 patients since it first broke out in December 2019. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Other countries that are currently the worst affected are Italy, Spain, France, Iran, and the United Kingdom, where the death toll has surpassed 17,000 mark each. 

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(Image Credit: AP)