Washington, April 2: Amid the ongoing coronavirus in the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested the Defense Department to make 100,000 body bags available to help state health agencies with mortuary affairs, a Pentagon spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday. Body bags, known as Human Remains Pouches, are used to keep dead bodies. Catch Live Updates of Coronavirus Outbreak Here.

The Defense Logistics Agency "is currently responding to FEMA’s prudent planning efforts for 100,000 pouches to address mortuary contingencies on behalf of state health agencies," Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement Thursday. The US has the most coronavirus cases in the world, which have exceeded 170,000. The FEMA request has come after the death toll due to coronavirus exceeded 5000. Global Economy Could Shrink by 1% in 2020 Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, Says UN-DESA.

New York state, the epicentre of the nation's outbreak, has recorded both the most cases and the most deaths, which have respectively topped 75,000 and 1,550. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a press conference on Tuesday, said that the state will hit the peak of its COVID-19 spread in seven to 21 days. As many as 200,000 Americans are projected to die in the US coronavirus outbreak, a top White House official said Tuesday.

Due to layoffs following the outbreak, US unemployment has hit a new high. According to data released by the Department of Labour, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefit has surged to 6.65 million, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend the country's economy.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2020 09:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).