US witnesses 1 million new COVID-19 cases in last week
Nov 16, 2020
Washington [US], November 16 : The United States witnessed a surge of roughly a million new COVID-19 cases in the past week, as it passed 11 million confirmed cases on Sunday, according to figures tabulated by Johns Hopkins University.
As the world neared 55 million total confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic, health officials around the US are scrambling to confront a wave of new infections, reported The Hill.
The surge has led to many jurisdictions pausing plans to relax COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings and public life, while some localities have moved to take more drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus.
On Thursday, Chicago city officials had announced a 30-day stay-at-home order amid a double-digit percentage rise in the rate of newly-confirmed cases in recent days, while Michigan and Washington put new restrictions on gyms, restaurants, theatres, and indoor gatherings, reported The Hill.
"Record cases over the past week will be record hospitalisations soon," tweeted the US Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, on Sunday.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the US currently has a total of 11,032,095 coronavirus cases, along with 246,206 deaths.
