COVID-19 cases in US surpass 9 million as new infections surge
31 Oct 2020
WASHINGTON — Coronavirus infections in the United States surpassed 9 million on Friday as 1 million new cases were recorded in just two weeks, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
This is the fastest the US has added 1 million new cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.
It had taken the country three weeks to jump from 7 million cases to 8 million.
As of Friday afternoon, the US had more than 9,018,500 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and 229,356 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
The increase in cases has been a result of a resurgence of the coronavirus since mid-October, health officials said.
Daily coronavirus cases in the US reached a record high on Thursday when health officials reported 88,521 new cases. On Friday, there have been additional 73,590 cases and 700 deaths reported so far.
The death rate attributed to the virus has risen 14 percent over the past two weeks, with more than 800 every day.
Confirmed cases are on the rise in 47 US states, and dozens of states set records on Thursday for new infections in a single day, including the Midwestern states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio, according to Johns Hopkins. Record daily highs were also reported in Texas, California, and Florida. — Agencies