US coronavirus deaths top 20,000 with billions in Easter lockdown

Numbers out of Spain offered a shred of hope: 510 new deaths, a dip in fatalities for the third day in a row

The United States passed the grim milestone of 20,000 coronavirus deaths Saturday as huge swaths of the globe celebrated the Easter holiday weekend under lockdown at home.

The outbreak has now claimed the lives of at least 20,506 people in the US, which leads the world in deaths and in the number of declared infections -- at least 527,111, according to a tally maintained by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University.