US coronavirus death toll surpasses 10,000

The United States death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 10,000 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.

The US has the third-highest number of reported deaths from the disease in the world, only exceeded by Italy with 15,887 and Spain with 13,055.

White House medical experts have forecast that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die as a result of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, even if sweeping orders to stay home are followed.

The US had entered what an official called the "peak death week" of the coronavirus on Monday, while a watchdog report said hospitals were struggling to maintain and expand capacity to care for infected patients.

"It's going to be the peak hospitalisation, peak ICU [intensive care unit] week and unfortunately, peak death week," Admiral Brett Giroir, a physician and member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC's Good Morning America programme on Monday.