Coronavirus cases in US could hit 1 lakh per day warns health experts

Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said coronavirus cases could grow to 100,000 a day in the country if Americans don’t start following public health recommendations.

Alarming spikes in new cases in southern hotspots Texas and Florida are driving the daily national total of new cases to over 40,000 per day, and they need to be tamped down quickly to avoid dangerous surges elsewhere in the country, Fauci stressed.

Fauci said areas seeing recent outbreaks are putting the entire nation at risk, including areas that have made progress in reducing COVID-19 cases. He cited recent video footage of people socialising in crowds, often without masks, and otherwise ignoring safety guidelines.

Fauci said he believed some states are "skipping over some of the checkpoints" that assure safe reopenings of business and public spaces.

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, sounded the alarm about rising trajectories in several jurisdictions, including COVID-19 hospitalizations rising in 12 states, and said it was "critical" that every American takes personal responsibility and "embraces the use of face coverings."

Asked to forecast the outcome of recent surges in some states, Fauci said he can’t make an accurate prediction but believes it will be “very disturbing”.

The testimony comes as the United States, the world's hardest-hit nation, with more than 2.6 million infections, was left off the list of 15 countries to which the European Union will open its borders from July 1, and as it grapples with how to assure a safe reopening of schools in the coming months.

Today, Donald Trump expressed his anger on China, by saying, “the (Covid-19) pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world. As I watch the Pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world, including the tremendous damage it has done to the USA, I become more and more angry at China,"

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities with 2,629,372 and 127,322, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Trump, who refuses to wear a mask at public events and in the past has mocked his rivals for wearing them, has signalled he wants to move on from the coronavirus crisis and focus on his re-election campaign.

California, Texas and Arizona have emerged as new epicenters of the pandemic, each reporting record increases in COVID-19 cases, adding to pressure on scores of potential vaccines being rushed into trials.

More than 126,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and millions have lost their jobs, as states and major cities ordered residents to stay home and businesses closed. The economy contracted sharply in the first quarter and is expected to crater in the second.