MONDAY, April 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The White House and Congressional leaders said Sunday they were close to agreement on a $470 billion coronavirus package that would pump more money into a small business loan program that has run out of funding.

Roughly $100 billion in the latest economic stimulus deal would go toward hospital needs and coronavirus testing, the Associated Press reported.

"I think we are getting close to a deal," President Donald Trump said at a Sunday briefing of the coronavirus task force.
"We have some very good negotiations going on right now, and I think you could have a nice answer tomorrow," Trump added.

The Senate is set to have a pro forma session Monday, but no vote has been scheduled. The House announced it could meet as soon as Wednesday for a vote on the pending package, the wire service said.

As the U.S. coronavirus death toll edged past 40,000 and the case count climbed to more than 753,000 on Monday, governors across America were crafting plans to start to ease social distancing in the coming weeks.

But new estimates from Harvard University researchers suggest that the United States as a whole cannot safely reopen unless health officials triple the number of coronavirus tests that are now being conducted, The New York Times reported.

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