The number of COVID-19 cases in the US surpassed the 2 million mark on Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Thursday morning, the overall number of cases stood at 2,000,464, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
Meanwhile, the national death toll from the disease rose to 112,924, it added.
The two tallies currently accounts for the highest in the world, making the US the worst-affected by the global pandemic.
New York state, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, remains the hardest-hit with 380,156 cases and 30,542 fatalities.
Other states with over 100,000 cases include New Jersey, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, the CSSE data showed.
According to The Washington Post, since the start of June, more than a dozen US states, including Texas and California, have recorded their highest-ever seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, partly caused by the protests against police brutality.
Meanwhile, the total death toll in the US from the novel coronavirus pandemic could hit the grim figure of 200,000 by September and expecting a dramatic decrease in COVID-19 cases in the country will be a “wishful thinking”, an eminent Indian-American professor has warned.
Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, told CNN on Wednesday that he is not trying to “scare” people to stay at home rather urged everyone to wear masks, adhere to the social distancing rules and called for ramping up testing and tracing infrastructure.
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