WASHINGTON • US coronavirus deaths rose by over 25,000 in July and cases doubled in 19 states during the month, according to a Reuters tally, dealing a crushing blow to hopes of quickly reopening the economy.
The United States recorded 1.87 million new cases last month, bringing total infections to 4.5 million, for an increase of 69 per cent. Deaths rose 20 per cent in July to nearly 154,000 in total.
The biggest increases last month were in Florida, with over 310,000 new cases, followed by California and Texas with about 260,000 each. All three states saw cases doubling.
Cases also more than doubled in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the tally.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York had the lowest increases, with cases rising 8 per cent or less.
The US shattered single-day global records when it reported over 77,000 new cases on July 16. In that month, 33 out of the 50 US states had one-day record increases in cases and 19 set records for their rise in deaths in 24 hours, according to a Reuters tally.
After a rapid acceleration in cases, the outbreak appears to be stabilising in Sunbelt states, including Arizona, Florida and Texas. Health officials are now concerned the outbreak has migrated to the Midwest, including the states of Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri, from summer travel.
The authorities said last Friday that hundreds of children contracted the coronavirus at a summer camp in the south-eastern state of Georgia last month, adding to a growing body of evidence that minors are both susceptible to infection and vectors of transmission.
The US last Friday saw the fourth straight day of more than 1,200 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, when it counted 1,442 new deaths in the 24 hours leading up to 8.30pm last Friday local time, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The US is the country hardest hit by the pandemic in the world, with at least 2.3 million people having recovered so far from the disease.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
