The United States on Monday reported its smallest daily increase in new coronavirus cases in more than four months, extending recent glimmers of hope for the country’s handling of the pandemic.
States reported an additional 52,530 infections, up from 58,702 on Sunday, according to Covid Tracking Project. It was the smallest one-day increase in cases since October 18.
Over the past week, the United States has recorded an average of 64,034 new cases per day, the lowest rate since the end of October. This is a 74% drop from a peak rate in early January of more than 247,000 cases per day.
However, Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned during the White House coronavirus response briefing on Monday afternoon that while the average has been down for five weeks, it is still ” high ”and on par with the summer thrust when solar belt states were among the most afflicted.
Casting a shadow over Monday’s figures, the death toll in the United States topped 500,000 for the first time, according to Johns Hopkins University. Covid Tracking Project, whose data the Financial Times used for analysis, estimated the death toll at 490,382.
“Since our dataset uses [New York State] reported deaths that do not include the more than 8,000 deaths reported by [New York City], our total death tally is lagging behind other trackers that scored 500,000 deaths today, ”the Covid Tracking Project said in a Twitter post, adding that it recognized that coronavirus deaths in the United States “Are undercoverage”.
Authorities attributed 1,235 more deaths from the coronavirus on Monday, the smallest one-day increase in seven days.
The number of patients currently hospitalized in the United States with coronavirus has fallen to 55,403, the lowest level since early November.
Monday’s numbers tend to be lower than other days of the week due to weekend delays in reporting. Harsh winter conditions can also have a moderating effect on state data due to trial and vaccination site closures and power outages.
