U.S. crosses 11m COVID-19 cases, 246,000 deaths

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University has shown the U.S. surpassed 11 million cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Sunday.

The new milestone was reached barely a week after the country’s caseload crossed 10 million.

The country reported a new record level of 989,825 cases within the last seven days.

The U.S. remained the worst hit country in both cases and fatalities, with no fewer than 246,006 deaths, the John Hopkins’ tally showed.

Saturday marked the 11th consecutive day with no fewer than 100,000 COVID-19 infections per day.

An analysis of the weekly caseload indicated that one out of every 330 Americans tested positive for the virus within the last seven days.

According to Reuters, Texas and California have reported the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the country.

Both states accounted for about 2.1 million cases representing 19 per cent of the total infections since the start of the pandemic, the news agency said.

COVID-19 related hospitalisations continued to rise in the country, crossing 69,000 on Saturday, Reuters’ tally indicated.

Several states, including Michigan, New York and Washington, were taking strict measures to check the spread of the virus.

In Michigan, secondary schools and universities were to suspend on-site classroom activities, while restaurants were banned from offering indoor dining from Wednesday.

Washington had also ordered suspension of indoor dining at restaurants, in addition to closure of cinemas, gyms, museums and theatres.

Similarly, bars and restaurants that served alcohol were to close at 10 p.m. local time (4 a.m. Nigerian time) in New York.

The commercial city has also limited gatherings to 10 people and is considering closing schools as from Monday.