US sets new daily coronavirus record

The US has reported about 60,000 new coronavirus cases, a single-day record, with infections continuing to rise rapidly in states such as Florida and Texas.

A man has his temperature taken at a COVID-19 testing centre in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

The US has reported about 60,000 new coronavirus cases, a single-day record, with infections continuing to rise rapidly in states such as Florida and Texas, while others expanded quarantine requirements on inbound travel and New York City stepped up testing.

The total number of cases in the US neared three million on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Daily case numbers fell below 50,000 for several days before Tuesday, but public-health experts cautioned that fewer tests take place on weekends and that infections that are detected might not be reported until the following week.

The US death toll stands at more than 131,000, according to Johns Hopkins.

As US cases continued to rise, the Trump administration followed through on threats to withdraw from the World Health Organisation. The administration and some public-health experts have questioned whether the group’s response to the virus was too deferential to China.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has denied the organisation bowed to pressure from Beijing.

The exit won’t take effect until next July, leaving it contingent on President Donald Trump’s re-election. His rival for the White House, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said the US would remain a member if he won.

Florida reported 7361 cases on Tuesday. The seven-day average for cases there is higher than the 14-day average, an indication that the spread is intensifying, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from Johns Hopkins.

Texas, another coronavirus hot spot, reported its highest one-day increase in infections, with more than 10,000 new cases recorded. It is one of three states to have reported 10,000 cases in a single day, along with Florida and New York.

Connecticut, New York and New Jersey added three states on Tuesday — Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma — to their advisory lists requiring inbound travellers to follow a 14-day quarantine period. Their lists now include 19 states where the seven-day rolling average of positive coronavirus tests exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents. New York City is pushing to increase testing as its reopening plans move forward.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would aim to test 150,000 residents on Wednesday. Addressing the need for residents to return to work, Mr de Blasio said the city would vote on a plan in which 3000 city-regulated childcare centres would open as early as next week.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said it would open free COVID-19 testing in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, Edinburg, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida — which will host the Republican National Convention next month — in response to “a recent and intense level of new cases and hospitalisations.”

Other countries also faced challenges in trying to contain the virus.

The total number of confirmed cases in Russia passed 700,000 Wednesday, authorities said, with fatalities standing at more than 10,600.

India reported 22,752 new cases, taking its total to 742,417, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The country’s death toll rose by 482, to 20,642.

In New Zealand, a man who left the hotel where he was under quarantine has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 32-year-old went to a supermarket while he was away from the hotel, said Air Commodore Darryn Webb, head of managed isolation and quarantine. He has been moved to a more secure facility, Mr Webb said. The man could face up to six months in prison if charged under a law governing the public-health response to the pandemic.

In Beijing, municipal health authorities reported zero COVID-19 cases, marking the second day of no new locally transmitted infections since a wave emerged from the Xinfadi wholesale food market on June 11. The deputy director of the Beijing Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control urged people to stay cautious and said the possibility of new cases in the coming week couldn’t be ruled out.

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the virus. He is one of the most prominent world leaders to play down the significance of the pandemic and frequently appeared in public without a mask until ordered last month by a court to wear one.

With 1.6 million infections, Brazil is second only to the US for the most infections and deaths in the world.

The Wall Street Journal