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Trump vows coronavirus-wrecked economy will 'bounce' back despite record joblessness

President Trump on Thursday predicted a "big bounce" as he argued the U.S. economy will recover quickly from the massive hit it has taken because of the coronavirus pandemic – nearly 17 million Americans losing their jobs in just the last three weeks.

As he teased possible deals to aid the ailing airline and oil industries, Trump said he was confident the flagging U.S. economy would come back from the drubbing it has taken since being effectively shut down as part of efforts to combat the pandemic.

“The economy is just going to do very well,” Trump said at the daily White House news briefing by the coronavirus task force. “I think we’re going to have a big bounce. … We’re going to open up very strong.”

Trump’s optimism was tempered by a third straight week of unemployment numbers as 6.6 million more Americans filed jobless claims. Those numbers now mean about 10 percent of working Americans have lost their job in the last three weeks. Click here for more on our top story.

Other related developments:

- To get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox, sign up here.

- AOC, Omar call for removing ‘profit motive’ from US coronavirus decisions, ‘nationalizing’ health care

- Bill Gates: Schools may reopen in fall but no one can ‘wave a wand’ to fix US economy

Coronavirus now killing more Americans than cancer, heart disease: report

COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is now the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. -- killing more people on average per day than cancer or heart disease.

The virus is the cause of 1,970 deaths in the U.S. per day, according to a graph published Tuesday by Dr. Maria Danilychev, based in San Diego, Calif. In comparison, the graph shows 1,774 deaths per day are attributed to heart disease and 1,641 to cancer, according to Newsweek.

The data came as the death toll in the U.S. continued to rise dramatically. Fatalities surpassed 16,600 by the end of Thursday, an increase of more than 12,000 deaths from data posted by Johns Hopkins University just eight days earlier. Click here for more.

Other related developments:

- Meet the former NY Times reporter who is challenging the coronavirus narrative

- New York's coronavirus cases now top every country outside US, Johns Hopkins researchers say

- Coronavirus in the US: State-by-state breakdown

China's wet markets can include these bizarre, unusual items

China’s so-called wet markets have long offered bizarre and unusual items, and have been known to operate in not-very-sanitary conditions.

Rumors have swirled that the coronavirus passed from animals to humans at one such market in the southeastern city of Wuhan, though scientists have not yet determined exactly how that happened.

“You’ve got live animals, so there’s feces everywhere. There’s blood because of people chopping them up,” Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, which works to protect wildlife and public health from emerging diseases, told The Associated Press last month.

“Wet markets,” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, are places “for the sale of fresh meat, fish, and produce.” They also sell an array of exotic animals. Click here for more.

Other coronavirus developments:

- Coronavirus: What you need to know

- Calif. residents eye possibility of months of restrictions over coronavirus: report

- Coronavirus traces found in Massachusetts wastewater

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SOME PARTING WORDS

"Life, Liberty & Levin" host Mark Levin reveals the questions he'd like the members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force to answer.

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! Stay safe, look out for one another and try to enjoy your Easter -- we will get through this coronavirus crisis together. We'll see you in your inbox first thing Monday morning.