WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tuesday, the United States reported the highest death toll in single day from coronavirus in seven months.
With 2261 new deaths reporting in the last 24 hours, the country's total number of COVID-19 casualties increased to 259962, as per latest data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
The all-time high in single day deaths was recorded on April 15, when 2,603 people succumbed to the deadly virus.
Also, there is no let-up in the intensity of coronavirus infections. 1,76,459 new cases in the last 24 hours took the national total to 12597330.
As cases continue to increase rapidly across the United States, millions of Americans are reportedly travelling home to celebrate Thanksgiving, despite warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal health agency last week had advised Americans to postpone travelling during Thanksgiving.
'Gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu,' CDC said in a warning issued a week ahead of the U.S. Holiday.
Meanwhile, COVID Tracking Project said that by Thanksgiving Day, the coronavirus testing, case, and death numbers will flatten out or drop, probably for several days. This decrease in metrics will make it look like things are getting better at the national level. It does not necessarily mean anything about the state of the pandemic, but it is because testing and reporting will go down during Holidays, the U.S. collaborative volunteer-run effort to track the pandemic said in a statement.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said President-elect Joe Biden's transition team has been briefed about the Trump administration's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
'We are immediately getting them all of the pre-prepared transition briefing materials,' he told reporters.
Covid-19 vaccine distribution could begin soon after December 10, according to Azar.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX