Our aggressive strategy against coronavirus pandemic is working: Trump

"My administration's plan and corresponding guidelines will give the American people the confidence they need to begin returning to normal life," Trump said.

Asserting that America is making progress in the war against the coronavirus, US President Donald Trump on Monday said the number of daily new infections remained flat nationwide over the weekend, sending clear evidence that the aggressive strategy to combat it is working. He also added that the government is 'very close' to completing a plan to reopen the country.

"America is continuing to make critical progress in our war against the virus. Over the weekend the number of daily new infections remained flat nationwide; hospitalizations are slowing in hotspots like New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Louisiana, Trump told reporters during his White House press conference on coronavirus.

On Tuesday, as many 1334 died in the US, taking the total number of fatalities to 23,352, and 24,895 new cases were reported. The number was far less than the fatalities hovering around 2,000 for the past several days and over 30,000 new cases being reported daily.

So far 580,000 Americans have tested positive with coronavirus, which is almost equal to the next four countries taken together: Spain (170,099), Italy (159,516), France (136,779) and Germany (130,772).

"I've been having many discussions with my team and top experts and we're very close to completing a plan to open our country hopefully even ahead of schedule, and that's so important, Trump told reporters at his White House news conference on coronavirus.

"I've been having many discussions with my team and top experts and we're very close to completing a plan to open our country hopefully even ahead of schedule, and that's so important, Trump told reporters at his White House news conference on coronavirus.

"My administration's plan and corresponding guidelines will give the American people the confidence they need to begin returning to normal life," he added.

"This was really a bad week they are still going to be a lot of deaths but we are starting to see in some areas now that kind of flattening particularly in a place that was a hot spot like New York," said Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health and a member of the White House Task Force on Coronavirus.

New York City, which has been the epicenter of coronavirus in the US, with 10,017 deaths and 195,459 cases, now has been registering fewer deaths and new cases than had been the case till last week. On Tuesday 6,765 new cases were reported from the city as against near and over 10,000 every day and fatalities were 722 as against nearly 1,000 on an average daily last week.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters during a separate news conference, "The worst is over, I believe. If we continue to be smart, and I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy, and we can have a plan where you start to see some businesses reopening understand -- understanding the delicate balance."

This level of new cases and fatalities has been prevented in other metropolitan areas of the country, including Chicago and Detroit areas because of the strict implementation of the social mitigation measures and ramping of the health preparedness including hospital beds, she said.

Early this month, members of the White House Task Force on Coronavirus, based on various models had projected between one lakh and two lakh deaths, even with the implementation of the social mitigation measures, which has now been extended till April 30.

As a result of the deadly spread of the virus, more than 95 per cent of the country's 330 million population are under stay-at-home order. The social mitigation guidelines have been in place for a month now and will continue until April 30. The US spent a whopping $2.2 trillion as part of its efforts to stimulate the economy but has failed to make any impact so far.