





A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 516,000 people worldwide.
Over 10.6 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 governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 2.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 128,062 deaths.
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Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates
4:32 a.m.: US reports record-high number of new cases in a day
More than 50,000 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the United States on Wednesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
It’s the first time the United States has reached or crossed the 50,000 threshold of new diagnosed cases in a single day.
Wednesday’s caseload shattered the country’s previous record set on June 26, when more than 45,000 new cases were identified.
The national total currently stands at 2,686,582 diagnosed cases with at least 128,062 deaths, 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 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 cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up to over 30,000 and then crossing 40,000 last week.
Nearly half of all 50 states have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks, with some — including Arizona, California and Florida — reporting daily records.