US reports over 68,000 Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours, tally tops 4.17 million

After a drop in the rate of infections in late spring, the US has seen a coronavirus surge, particularly in southern and western states like California, Texas, Alabama and Florida.

The United States on Saturday recorded 68,212 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University reported in its real-time tally.

A pedestrian wearing a mask in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic walks past the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. (Reuters File Photo)

That brought the total number of cases in the world’s hardest-hit country to 4,174,437, the Baltimore-based university said at 8:30 pm (0030 Sunday).

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Another 1,067 deaths were reported, bringing the country’s total fatalities to 146,391.

After a drop in the rate of infections in late spring, the US has seen a coronavirus surge, particularly in southern and western states like California, Texas, Alabama and Florida.

For the past 12 days, the number of new cases being reported each day has topped 60,000.

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Scientists agree that an increase in death rates follows the spike in infections by three to four weeks.

The daily death toll for the past four days has exceeded 1,000.