Washington (CNN) On a day when more than 800 Americans died of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump used his daily briefing on the pandemic to unveil seemingly unrelated counternarcotics operations that senior officials said would hurt embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

"Today the United States is launching enhanced counternarcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to protect the American people from the deadly scourge of illegal narcotics," Trump said.

The announcement coincides with a renewed Trump administration push to oust Maduro, an effort that began in January 2019 and has yet to yield results. It also came on a day when the US registered the most deaths from the coronavirus in a single day, with at least 869 reported on Wednesday, bringing the total to 4,703.

The day before, Trump had delivered the starkest estimate of the pandemic's toll in the US, telling Americans that even if recommended distancing measures are followed closely, up to 240,000 Americans could die. The next two weeks, he added, will likely be "painful" and "tough."

'A record pace'

Read More