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WASHINGTON: The United States became the world’s first nation since the pandemic began to exceed 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday (Nov. 8), when the third wave of the COVID-19 virus broke out. spreads throughout the country.
The grim milestone came on the same day that global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.
READ: With Cases on the Rise, Biden to Announce COVID-19 Task Force
The United States has reported about one million cases in the past 10 days, the highest rate of infections since the nation reported its first coronavirus case in Washington state 293 days ago.
The country reported a record 131,420 COVID-19 cases on Saturday and has reported more than 100,000 infections four times in the past seven days, according to a Reuters tally.
The latest seven-day reported U.S. average of 105,600 daily cases, increased by at least 29 percent, is more than the combined average of India and France, two of the worst-hit countries in Asia and Europe.
More than 237,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the disease caused by the coronavirus first appeared in China late last year.
READ: Global COVID-19 cases top 50 million after 30-day spike
The daily average of new deaths reported in the United States represents one in 11 deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters analysis.
The number of reported deaths nationwide rose by more than 1,000 for the fifth day in a row on Saturday, a trend last seen in mid-August, according to a Reuters tally.
Health experts say that deaths tend to increase four to six weeks after an increase in infections.
US President-elect Joe Biden, who spent much of his election campaign criticizing President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, pledged Saturday to make fighting the pandemic a top priority.
Biden will announce a 12-member task force Monday to tackle the pandemic that will be led by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler.
The coronavirus task force will be tasked with developing a plan to contain the disease once Biden takes office in January.
The Midwest continues to be the hardest hit region based on the highest number of cases per capita, with North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska the five most affected US states.
Illinois emerged as the new epicenter in the Midwest, with the state reporting more than 60,000 COVID-19 infections in the past seven days, the highest in the country, according to Reuters data. The state reported more than 12,454 new cases on Saturday, the highest number in a single day so far.
Texas, which accounts for 10 percent of total cases in the United States, is the hardest hit state, becoming the first to surpass 1 million coronavirus cases in the United States on Saturday.
According to a Reuters analysis, the southern region comprises nearly 43 percent of all cases in the United States since the pandemic began, with nearly 4.3 million cases in the region alone, followed by the Midwest, West and northeast.
New York, with more than 33,000 deaths, remains the state with the highest number of deaths, accounting for about 14 percent of total deaths in the United States.
The United States conducted about 10.5 million coronavirus tests in the first seven days of November, of which 6.22% were positive, compared with 6.17% in the previous seven days, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project, a project led by volunteers. Effort to trace the outbreak.
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