It’s the first time in days that the U.S. has recorded over 50,000 new cases.
The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 749,000 people worldwide.
Over 20.6 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 5.1 million diagnosed cases and at least 166,027 deaths.
Latest headlines:
- Italy orders COVID-19 tests for travelers from 4 nations
- US records nearly 56,000 new cases, over 1,500 additional deaths
- How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained
- What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms
- Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.
4:48 a.m.: Italy orders COVID-19 tests for travelers from 4 nations
Italy has ruled that people traveling to the country from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain must be tested for COVID-19 on arrival.
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced Wednesday evening that he had signed the new order, adding that anyone traveling from or through Colombia would be barred from entering Italy.
“We must continue along the line of prudence to defend the results achieved in recent months with everyone’s sacrifice,” Speranza wrote in a Facebook post.
Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, has so far reported more than 251,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 with over 35,000 deaths. The country registered another rise in the number of new infections Wednesday, with 481 cases identified in the past 24 hours — up from 412 on Tuesday, according to data released by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency.
What to know about coronavirus:
3:50 a.m.: US records nearly 56,000 new cases, over 1,500 additional deaths
There were 55,910 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Wednesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
An additional 1,504 coronavirus-related deaths were also reported — a jump of more than 400 from the previous day.
It’s the first time in four days that the nation has recorded over 50,000 new cases. But Wednesday’s caseload is still well below the record set on July 16, when more than 77,000 new cases were identified in a 24-hour reporting period.
A total of 5,197,377 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 166,027 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July.
Many states have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks, with some — including Arizona, California and Florida — reporting daily records. However, the nationwide number of new cases and deaths in the last week have both decreased in week-over-week comparisons, according to an internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News Wednesday night.
ABC News Josh Margolin and Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.
