US Hits New Daily High of Coronavirus Cases

A record high 121,888 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States Thursday, the third record-setting day this week, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Infections are surging in all regions in the U.S. as the COVID-19 death toll continues to climb. More than 1,200 deaths were reported Thursday by Johns Hopkins University, the most since mid-September after a sharp spike during the summer.

Hospitalizations in the U.S. have significantly increased, forcing hospitals in Midwestern and Southern states to take urgent action to accommodate floods of new patients.

Midwestern states have been especially hard hit, with a record high number of infections reported Thursday in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Since the surge in the U.S. began in mid-September, some states have periodically imposed piecemeal lockdown measures, including Maine, which extended its mask wearing requirement to cover all public spaces.

Far more stringent restrictions are being implemented in Europe, where coronavirus infections also continue to surge.

Britain began a four-week lockdown Thursday, while Greece begins a three-week shutdown Saturday.

Anyone traveling from Denmark to Britain must now self-isolate for 14 days. Denmark was removed Friday from Britain’s corridor of travel, following a coronavirus outbreak on mink farms in the Scandinavian country.

Denmark has announced it is culling more than 15 million minks to halt the spread of a mutated form of the coronavirus that has appeared in the minks.

In Italy, new coronavirus restrictions were imposed on Friday. Under the so-called soft lockdown, the country has been divided into three zones according to the severity of the outbreak.

Russia reported 20,582 new COVID-19 cases Friday, a record daily high, while Serbia and Greece also reported sharp increases.

India announced more than 47,000 new COVID-19 cases, while Tunisia and Jordan are seeing significant accelerations in their infection rates.

In South America, the situation is brighter in Ecuador, where the infection rate has plunged 44% to 800 new cases a day.

The U.S. has 9.6 million of the world’s 48.6 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. also continues to lead the world in COVID-19 deaths, with more than 235,000 of the world’s 1.2 million fatalities.