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US sets record for cases amid election battle over coronavirus

Published:Thursday | November 5, 2020 | 1:14 PM
In this November 2, 2020, file photo, a woman inserts her ballot into a drops box in Salt Lake City. Regardless of the presidential election outcome, a vexing issue remains to be decided: Will the US be able to tame a perilous pandemic that is surging as holidays, winter and other challenges approach? Public health experts fear the answer is no, at least in the short term, with potentially dire consequences. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

New confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States have climbed to an all-time high of more than 86,000 per day on average, in a glimpse of the worsening crisis that lies ahead for the winner of the presidential election.

Cases and hospitalisations are setting records all around the country just as the holidays and winter approach, demonstrating the challenge that either President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden will face in the coming months.

Daily new confirmed coronavirus cases in the US have surged 45% over the past two weeks, to a record 7-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Deaths are also on the rise, up 15 percent to an average of 846 deaths every day.

The total US death toll is already more than 232,000, and total confirmed US cases have surpassed 9 million.

Those are the highest totals in the world, and new infections are increasing in nearly every state.

Several states on Wednesday reported grim numbers that are fuelling the national trends.

Texas reported 9,048 new cases and 126 deaths, and the number of coronavirus patients in Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma hospitals set records.

About a third of the new cases in Texas happened in hard-hit El Paso, where a top health officials said hospitals are at a “breaking point.”

Public health experts fear potentially dire consequences, at least in the short term.

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