Coronavirus Pandemic: 7 US states post record cases

Alabama and six other US states reported have record increases in coronavirus cases as Florida's most populous county imposed a curfew ahead of the Independence Day weekend and Arkansas joined a push toward mandating mask-wearing in public.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama all registered new daily highs in cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Texas hit a new peak for hospitalizations, with one doctor calling for a "complete lockdown" in the state to get the virus under control.

The daily US tally of cases stood at 53,483 late on Friday, below the previous day's record 55,405.

US isn't the only country seeing a surge in cases after lifting or relaxing lockdown.

India yesterday recorded its highest singe-day spike of coronavirus cases, with over 22,000 new cases and 442 deaths, as infections rose in the western and southern parts of the country amid heavy monsoon rains.

The western state of Maharashtra, home to the densely packed financial capital Mumbai, has the country's highest total, recording 6,364 fresh cases of the virus yesterday and 198 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

India has the fourth-most confirmed cases in the world, exceeding 640,000 yesterday, according to health ministry data. It follows the United States, Brazil and Russia.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the second worst-hit state in India, the number of cases crossed 100,000.

Epidemiologists warn India's peak could still be weeks or months away, suggesting the country's already severely overburdened healthcare system will come under further stress.

Scientists say lockdowns have likely prevented hundreds of millions of infections around the world. A modeling study published in the scientific journal Nature last month estimated that by early April, shutdown policies saved 285 million people in China from getting infected, 49 million in Italy and 60 million in the US.

But the restrictions launched to counteract the disease have also been hugely damaging for the economy and have exacerbated existing inequalities in education and the workplace, as well as between genders, races and socio-economic backgrounds.

As shops and schools shut and nearly all travel ceased, hundreds of millions of people around the world have suddenly found themselves unemployed. The impact on the economy is one of the reasons why some leaders, including the US President Donald Trump, have been pushing for swift reopening, even as infectious diseases experts warned about lifting restrictions too early.

Despite the jump in infections, the average daily death toll in the United States has gradually declined in recent weeks, a reflection of the growing proportion of positive tests among younger, healthier people who are less prone to severe outcomes.

However, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that the impact on fatalities from the recent surge, which started in mid-June, had yet to be seen. "Deaths lag at least two weeks and can lag even more," he told "Fox & Friends" on Friday.

US experts are also predicting another surge after July 4 holidays.

Trump, whose handling of the pandemic has come under harsh criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, has repeatedly sought to dismiss the jump in cases as a function of more tests and again this week predicted the virus would "disappear."

Coronavirus cases are rising in 37 of the 50 US states including Florida, which had 9,488 new cases on Friday, according to the state health department. Florida's 10,109 cases on Thursday set a record for the state and was more than any European country's daily peak at the height of the outbreak there.

Evidence the surge is not simply due to expanded testing, the percentage of tests coming back positive in Florida has hit 16%, up from 4% a month ago, according to a Reuters analysis. The World Health Organization says a rate over 5% is concerning.

Against that backdrop, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez imposed an indefinite nightly curfew starting Friday and halted the reopenings of entertainment venues such as casinos and strip clubs.

Earlier this week, Miami-Dade and neighboring Broward County, the state's two most populous counties, required residents to wear face coverings in public.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on Friday authorized the state's cities and towns to enact a "model ordinance" requiring the wearing of face coverings if they choose to do so, becoming the latest Republican to relent to pressure on the issue.

The move came a day after Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered that face masks be worn in most public places, reversing his stance following an alarming rise in infections in the state, which on Friday marked a new high for hospitalizations at 7,652.