US COVID-19 cases surpass 9 mln: Johns Hopkins University

NEW YORK -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 9 million on Friday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

US COVID-19 case count rose to 9,007,298, with the national death toll reaching 229,293, as of 3:24 pm local time (1924 GMT), according to the CSSE.

California reported 925,509 cases, at the top of the US state-level case count list. Texas registered the country's second largest caseload of 919,661, followed by Florida with 799,738 cases. New York State confirmed more than half a million cases.

Other states with over 210,000 cases include Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the CSSE.

By far, the United States remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up nearly 20 percent of the global caseload and death toll, respectively.

US COVID-19 cases topped 5 million on Aug 9, hit 6 million on Aug 31, exceeded 7 million on Sept 25 and surpassed 8 million on Oct 16.

The United States has seen skyrocketing infections and deaths this fall, with 30 states witnessing record daily cases in October.

The US daily case count peaked at 88,521 on Thursday, the highest increase of new cases in a single day since the pandemic began, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, expressed his concern in a televised interview that the US daily cases may cross 100,000 "at some point in the next couple of weeks", fearing Thanksgiving family gatherings would help spread the virus even further.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predicted a total of 399,163 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by Feb 1, 2021, based on current projection scenario.