US coronavirus infections soar to near record in a day

The number of new coronavirus infections in the United States is approaching record daily levels, with more than 35,900 cases recorded in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

That brings the number of cases in the country to nearly 2.4 million, the tracker from the Baltimore-based university showed at 8:30pm local time Wednesday (0030 GMT Thursday), after several days in which the number of cases has surged.

READ MORE

Global coronavirus death toll surges past 475,000

Vaccine in two-and-a-half years time WHO official

Nearly half of the 50 US states have seen an increase in infections over the past two weeks, with some -- such as Texas and Florida -- posting daily records.

The Hopkins tracker also showed on Wednesday that 756 people had died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

That brings the death toll to 121,932 in the world's leading economic power, by far the most bereaved by the pandemic on the planet.