The shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic continues to pound the US economy, as 6.6 million Americans filed initial jobless claims for the week ended April 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The flood of jobless claims boosted the number filed in the last three weeks to more than 16 million, compared with a total of 11.5 million this year through March 14 or just before government stay-at-home orders essentially shut down the economy and put millions out of work.

In other news, White House adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said Thursday that the death toll from the coronavirus in the US could be closer to 60,000, assuming full social distancing, rather than the previously projected deaths of 100,000 to 240,000 estimated by the White House.

The US death toll rose to nearly 16,000 Thursday, with confirmed cases of the virus at 451,491, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 24,000 people have recovered nationwide.

In New York, in the past two weeks, the number of virus patients hospitalized has grown more and more slowly, from over 20 percent a day at one point to single-digit percentage increases this week. From Wednesday to Thursday, the number increased by 200 to 18,279, or just 1 percent.

If the trend were to continue, the number of people in hospitals would soon start to decline — a sign that the virus had passed its apex. But the number of people dying of the virus continues to grow. New York state recorded 799 deaths from Wednesday to Thursday, another one-day high.

On Thursday, officials said they had no choice but to bury COVID-19 patients at the city's cemetery on Hart Island off the Bronx as it deals with the mounting coronavirus death toll and dwindling morgue space.

A dozen contracted laborers in hazmat suits were seen digging and burying the caskets — some of which had names carved on them — on Thursday, the New York Post reported, with photographs of the burials.

Inmates from Rikers Island jail usually dig graves on Hart Island, but the Department of Corrections has hired contracted laborers to carry out the work due to the outbreak.

The island may also be used as a site for temporary interments should deaths surge past the city's morgue capacity. The medical examiner's office will keep bodies in storage for 14 days before they are buried in the city's potter's field on Hart Island.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he believe that the US economy could be ready to reopen by the end of May, "as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues".

A new package of coronavirus relief stalled in the Senate, as Democrats objected to a proposed $250 billion increase in a small-business program, and Republicans rejected the counteroffer.

The White House for the first time planned to conduct rapid coronavirus tests starting on Thursday for all journalists planning to attend the daily briefing led by President Donald Trump after a reporter who was in the building earlier this week fell ill. Journalists will be tested one by one in a vacant office, with results to be delivered before the briefing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left intensive care following an improvement in his condition from the coronavirus. He was moved to a regular hospital bed from the intensive-care unit where he had been receiving oxygen.

Italy announced 4,204 new cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 610 deaths. Both numbers were below peak, but increases from earlier this week, suggesting a slow decline of the outbreak in the hard-hit nation.

The US job market had been strong prior to the economic shutdown, and unemployment was at 3.5 percent, near a record low. In the six months prior to the shutdown, non-farm employers hired an average of 221,000 workers a month, the Labor Department said.

Also Thursday, the Federal Reserve outlined plans to pump another $2.3 trillion into the economy.

The Fed plans to make loans available to small- and medium-sized businesses, and do more market interventions, including the purchase of investment grade and high-yield, or junk, bonds.

The loans would be available to businesses with up to 10,000 employees and less than $2.5 billion in revenue in 2019. Payments on principal and interest will be deferred for one year.

"Our country's highest priority must be to address this public health crisis, providing care for the ill and limiting the further spread of the virus," Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a statement.

"The Fed's role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible," he said.

The first federal stimulus checks are expected to reach millions of people next week, possibly as soon as Thursday and Friday.

The money is part of a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that the president signed into law. It's intended to assist the unemployed with daily expenses and help revive a stalled economy.