Covid-19: US Hits Record Number of Cases and Hospitalisations
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Dec 4, 2020
The U.S. saw its highest single-day coronavirus death toll to date on Wednesday with 3,157.
The new tally of 2 731 fatalities raises the overall known death toll in America to 273 181 since the pandemic started late previous year.
The number of hospitalizations far outpaces peaks in mid-April and July of about 59,000 patients being treated for COVID-19. Other COVID statistics from Wednesday paint an unrelentingly bleak picture and suggest the worst is yet to come, the BBC reports.
USA hospitalisations hit a record high of 96,039, according to a daily upgrade published by The Covid Tracking Project on Nov 30. Altogether, the analysis shows that 345,000 more people than normal have died in the United States during that period, a number that may be an undercount since recent death statistics are still being updated.
More than 273,000 people in the USA have died from COVID-19 since the first cases were detected in January.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield warned Wednesday that the winter months would put extreme pressure on the health care system.
"The reality is that December, January and February are going to be rough times", Redfield said in a livestream presentation hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
"I have heard so many times in the last week people don't think it's real because they don't know anyone that got it, or got it bad". With 5,600 new cases, the state's Covid tally spiked to 18,32,176.
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 11 251 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 800 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1 133 613 cases and 107 565 deaths. On Wednesday that number rose to at least 2,760.
"The public health condition of our city is as dire as it was in March in the earliest days of this pandemic", he said, according to CNN.
Britain on Wednesday gave emergency approval to Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, a sign that US regulators may soon follow suit and allow inoculations within weeks.
