A string of bleak virus figures jolts battered US

WASHINGTON－The United States reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 cases on Friday, setting the highest single-day number of cases recorded worldwide, as New York introduced tougher measures to curb the spread within the state.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 99,750 new COVID-19 cases and 1,009 new deaths on Friday, marking two consecutive days that daily cases had exceeded 90,000. It was also the fifth time in a week that daily cases in the US exceeded 80,000.

The country had more than 9.12 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 230,500 deaths by Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

Confirmed deaths have also surged across the country in recent days. The rise in the number of cases was not driven by an increasing number of tests, according to the COVID Tracking Project, because the rate of increase in the number of cases far outpaced that of tests.

Experts warned that hospitals could become overwhelmed as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.

According to a new forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the COVID-19 death toll in the US would reach 399,163 by Feb 1.

"The fall/winter surge should lead to a daily death toll that is approximately three times higher than now by mid-January," the institute said in its latest forecast.

Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reiterated concerns about the national outlook.

"I think it will be easily by the end of 2021, and perhaps even into the next year, before we start having some semblances of normality," Fauci said in a panel discussion last week.

New York plans to carry out a new quarantine policy that features tests both before and after one's arrival in the state, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.

"If you are coming to the state of New York, within three days of arriving… you must have tested negative and have proof of test within three days upon your arrival in New York that says you're negative."

Cuomo called this a "testing policy" adopted on the advice of global health experts.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday the extension of restrictive measures to most Iranian cities as the COVID-19 continued to spread across the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.

On Oct 3 Iranian health authorities shut down major educational and cultural activities in Teheran after a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. They also reintroduced strict compulsory use of face masks and asked people to avoid unnecessary outings.

The limitations would be extended to 71 cities until Nov 14, Rouhani said.

Health protocols

He urged the public to help in implementing health protocols and mandates in dealing with the pandemic.

Masoud Mardani, a member of a national coronavirus task force, said protective measures in high-risk areas of Iran are expected to produce positive results within the next few weeks, the Financial Tribune daily reported on Saturday.

"We are expecting to witness a drop in hospital visits within two weeks and a drop in the death rate in three to four weeks," Mardani was quoted as saying.

Iran said 612,772 people in the country had been infected with the novel coronavirus by Saturday, of whom 34,846 had died.

In Turkey, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister, tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Both were receiving medical care.

Turkey reported 2,213 new cases of people with COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the tally in the country to 375,367. The death toll stood at 10,252.

Brazil, which ranks third with COVID-19 cases after the US and India, had more than 5.5 million people infected with the virus and more than 159,800 deaths. Other South American countries are also experiencing rising COVID-19 cases, including Chile and Bolivia.

Xinhua - Agencies