US adds 1,242 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins
The United States added 1,262 more deaths to its COVID-19 toll in the 24 hours.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States added 1,262 more deaths to its COVID-19 toll in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 pm Wednesday (0030 GMT), according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The world s largest economy also added 53,158 new cases of the virus, the Baltimore-based institution s tracker showed.
The US has now recorded 4,818,328 total cases, which have resulted in 157,930 deaths, making it by far the worst-hit country in the world.
President Donald Trump nonetheless remained optimistic Wednesday, saying "This thing s going away. It will go away like things go away and my view is that schools should be open."
The pandemic has seen a resurgence in the US since June in many states, particularly in the south and west.
One of them, Florida, on Wednesday surpassed half a million cases since the start of the crisis.
In Arizona, another badly hit state, more than 500 inmates in a Tucson jail -- more than half the facility s population -- tested positive for coronavirus, local prison officials said.
- Florida surpasses half a million COVID-19 cases -
Florida, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the southeastern US, has surpassed half a million cases and now has a death toll of more than 7,600, state health authorities said Wednesday.
The Florida Health Department reported only 5,409 new daily cases in its latest count, a considerable drop after recent figures of around 10,000 new infections per day in recent weeks.
The number of cases however may have decreased because testing was largely halted during the recent passage of Tropical Storm Isaias.
Public testing centers where people could go for a nose swab were closed Thursday, reopening only on Monday.
The storm swiped Florida s eastern coastline over the weekend, leaving four dead across the southeastern US.
Florida, population 21 million, has registered 502,739 total coronavirus cases, the Health Department said.
That means that close to one in every 43 Floridians has tested positive for the virus.
Florida has the highest number of virus cases in the country after California, which has about twice Florida s population.
After killing 225 people on Tuesday, the total COVID-19 death toll in the Sunshine State reached 7,627.
Governor Ron DeSantis reopened Florida for business between May and June but did not order the mandatory use of face masks or recommend new quarantine measures.
The Republican governor is a key ally of President Donald Trump, who is counting on a victory in Florida to help him win the November 3 presidential election.
