Records are really meant to fall.
The United States established a new record of 283,204 COVID-19 cases within 24 hours from the previous 280,229, according to Johns Hopkins University. It will be the country’s second-highest total in a single day.
Number of COVID-19 deaths, however, went down to 3,534 from a high of 4,194, Johns Hopkins University added.
It may have been due to the lags in data reporting because of the holidays, plus the fact that a new virus strain that is highly transmissible has already reached many US states. US public health officials and epidemiologists expect cases to rise even further.
The increase in the daily virus caseload happened as President-elect Joe Biden blasted outgoing President Trump’s vaccine roll-out efforts as a “travesty.”
Though the vaccines offer a ray of hope for the country, Biden said distributing the vaccine can be “the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a nation.”
Elsewhere in the globe, many countries are reporting higher numbers, including Britain with 1,325 deaths and 68,053 cases over 24 hours, both new highs.
Africa, on the other hand, experienced a sharp surge. Senegal reported eight deaths and 296 infections.