US records highest number of COVID-19 cases in over eight months, Florida worst-hit

The US has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in over eight months, amid the country's rising spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. A record 1,00,000 samples were tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. This large number of cases were last witnessed in January this year. 

The COVID curve in the country is moving upwards, despite the country’s continuous efforts to expand vaccination programmes. With more than 50% population fully vaccinated, the surge in daily COVID figures has worried the top health officials. They have warned that if the country doesn’t vaccinate a large part of the population soon, it can observe up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to the surge in early January. As per a report by AP, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said to CNN, “It took the US about nine months to cross 100,000 average daily cases in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January. Cases bottomed out in June, averaging about 11,000 per day, but six weeks later, the number is 107,143.” These figures are a bleak reminder of the surging spread of the Delta variant.

Hospitalisation and death figures go up 

The numbers of hospitalisation and deaths are also increasing daily, signalling a horrifying second wave. Though currently, these figures haven’t reached their peak, the officials fear the possibility of a rise in numbers. As per the report by AP, CDC says more than 44,000 Americans are currently hospitalised with COVID-19, up 30% in a week and nearly four times the number in June. More than 120,000 were hospitalised in January. According to Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day average for deaths rose from about 270 deaths per day two weeks ago to nearly 500 a day as of Friday. Not just this, even deaths have peaked at 3,500 per day in January. 

Florida records high number of cases

The situation is particularly dire in the South, which has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S. and has seen smaller hospitals overrun patients. Florida is one of the leading states in the US in terms of COVID-19 related hospitalisations. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hospitalisation cases have risen from 12,516 on Thursday to 12,864. The US is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge. The US was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143. 

Image Credit: AP
(With AP Inputs)