2.1 million COVID-19 cases in US; new hotspots emerge

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Washington: With over 116,000 fatalities, the US topped the COVID-19 2.1 million mark even as new hotspots continued to emerge in states where restrictions were partially lifted.

As of Tuesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the US were 2,114,026 and 116,127 deaths — both tallies account for the highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

New York state, the once epicentre of the pandemic in the state, has gone from having the worst infection rate to the “best”, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

As of Sunday, New York had 1,608 coronavirus patients, the lowest figure since March 20, and a three-day average of 27 deaths, the lowest since March 21, he added.

However, states in the South, West and Southwest were witnessing a surge in their coronavirus case counts — and in some cases setting records — as a troubling pattern emerged in areas that began lifting restrictions earlier than others, the New York Times reported.

South Carolina, which was among the last states to issue stay-at-home orders and the first to start reopening, recorded 840 new infections on Monday, the highest number in one day since the pandemic began, said the report.

In Arizona, which reopened pools and gyms in recent weeks, hospitals have been urged to activate emergency plans to handle a flood of COVID-19 patients, it added.

Arizona is one of the 12 US states seeing a rise in hospitalizations from COVID-19 and one of the eight states that experts say are the new hotspots for the virus, news website Vox reported.

At least 23 US states were seeing a rise in cases as of last week, according to a CNBC analysis.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projected that the country was on pace to reach 124,000 to 140,000 COVID-19 deaths by July 4, and that more fatalities could be expected in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah and Vermont next month versus the last month.

Image courtesy of IANS

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