US hits record high in daily cases

The United States has confirmed 217,664 new COVID-19 cases over the past period, which is a record number for the entire time of the pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University, 2,879 patients with COVID-19 died in 24 hours. The previous high was the 2,607 deaths recorded on 15 April, at the beginning of the pandemic. Johns Hopkins had earlier reported 3,157 deaths on Wednesday.

According to the University's calculations, so far, more than 14.1 million people have contracted coronavirus, while 276,325 fell victim to the virus in the US.