Trump: 'Going to be a lot of death' in U.S. next week from coronavirus

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing, with Vice President Mike Pence (L, front), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr Anthony Fauci (2nd, Back row) and White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx (1st, back row), at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., April 4, 2020. /Reuters

President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a big spike in coronavirus fatalities in the coming days, as the country faces what he called the toughest two weeks of the pandemic.

"There's going to be a lot of death," Trump said at a briefing with reporters at the White House.

"We are coming up to a time that is going to be very horrendous," Trump said. "We probably have never seen anything like these kind of numbers. Maybe during the war, during a World War One or Two or something."

The U.S. government said would be deploying thousands of military personnel to states to help deal with the coronavirus epidemic.

"We're going to be adding a tremendous amount of military to help," Trump said, adding that 1,000 military personnel are being sent to New York City, including military doctors and nurses.

A healthcare worker wearing a protective mask outside Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2020. /Reuters

The president then pushed back on criticism that the federal government has not done enough to get ventilators to the states that many critically ill coronavirus patients need to survive, saying some governors are asking for more machines than they will need.

"Fears of shortages have led to inflated requests," Trump said of submissions his administration has received to dole out equipment from the strategic national stockpile.

The United States has the world's highest number of known COVID-19 cases. More than 306,000 people have tested positive for the virus, and over 8,300 have died, and Louisiana has become a U.S. hot spot for the virus, reporting a jump in deaths to 409 on Saturday.

(With input from Reuters)