A marble lion is seen with a face mask in front of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue in New York, the United States, July 8, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

 U.S. COVID-19 deaths have surpassed the 160,000 mark to reach 160,090 as of 21:48 p.m. local time on Thursday (0148 GMT Friday), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.