WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tuesday was the worst day for the United States in the number of new coronavirus infections reported nationwide.
With 1,47,273 new cases recording in the last 24 hours, the country's total number of COVID-19 infections increased to 10257825, as per latest data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. It is the highest daily infection toll recorded in the country since the pandemic began.
1,432 new deaths in the same period took the total casualties to 239683. This is more than double the numbers recorded the previous day.
Since the beginning of this month, cases are multiplying in the United States, breaking all-time records day-by-day.
Cases skyrocketed breaking the 10, 0000 mark last week, which was incidentally the election week. It continues above that mark for the last seven days. New COVID cases in the U.S. rose by nearly 150 percent within a month.
Simultaneously, the country is witnessing a record number of Covid patients in hospitals.
On Tuesday, 61,964 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest during the pandemic so far, according to the latest data published by the Covid Tracking Project Wednesday after tallying state records. This marks 40 percent increase in the number of hospitalizations compare to two weeks ago.
Currently, 17 states are at their peaks for hospitalizations, says the U.S. collaborative volunteer-run effort to track the pandemic.
According to local news reports, hospitals are already on the brink of being overwhelmed in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. Officials in many other states warn that their healthcare systems will be dangerously stressed if cases continue to rise.
'The new hospitalization record underscores that we've entered the worst period for the pandemic since the original outbreak in the Northeast,' Covid Tracking Project said.
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