US: Trump orders flags lowered to half-staff for COVID-19 victims ⁰

US President Donald Trump has announced that US flags will be lowered to half-staff over the next three days to honor tens of thousands of Americans who have died due to the coronavirus.

Trump in a tweet on Thursday said the flags will be flown at half-staff over the next three days as the coronavirus death toll in the US nears 100,000.

Earlier in the day, top Democrats had urged the president to order the practice, saying it would reflect a “national expression of grief.”

“Our hearts are broken over this great loss” from the pandemic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote in a letter to Trump.

“Respectful of them and the loss to our country, we are writing to request that you order flags to be flown at half staff on all public buildings in our country on the sad day of reckoning when we reach 100,000 deaths,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote.

As of Thursday, the country has registered 93,558 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths, so far the highest toll in the world.

This week, the US has averaged about 1,300 daily coronavirus deaths.

Source: Presstv