US hits grim milestone of three million coronavirus cases as California and Texas see 10,000 in a single day

Cases in the US have passed three million
Getty Images

The US coronavirus outbreak has crossed the grim milestone of three million confirmed cases.

The staggering number means nearly one of every 100 Americans - and a population roughly equal to Nevada's - has been affected by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Texas and California, the two largest US states, confirmed a rise of more than 10,000 new Covid-19 cases in a single day on Tuesday.

Four other states, Hawaii, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, also shattered their previous daily record highs for new cases.

And authorities in 24 states have reported alarming upswings of daily caseloads over the past two weeks.

The World on Coronavirus lockdown

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In Texas alone, the number of hospitalised patients more than doubled in just two weeks while Florida is facing an impending shortage of intensive care unit hospital beds.

The upward trend has driven many more Americans to seek out Covid-19 screenings.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday it was adding short-term "surge" testing sites in three metropolitan areas in Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

California during Coronavirus lockdown

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In Houston, a line of more than 200 cars snaked around the United Memorial Medical Center as people waited hours in sweltering heat to get tested.

Some had arrived the night before to secure a place in line at the drive-through site.

"I got tested because my younger brother got positive," said Fred Robles, 32, who spent the night in his car.

A crowded beach in LA
Getty Images

"There's so many people that need to get tested, there's nothing you can do about it."

Dean Davis, 32, who lost his job due to the pandemic, said he arrived at the testing site at 3am on Tuesday after he waited for hours on Monday but failed to make the cutoff.

"I was like, let me get here at 3, maybe nobody will be here," Mr Davis said. "I got here, there was a line already."

In Florida, more than four dozen hospitals across 25 of 67 counties reported their intensive care units had reached full capacity, according to the state's Agency for Health Care Administration.

A shopper walks past a Pier 1 Imports store as going out of business signs are posted amid the coronavirus pandemic in Santa Clarita, California
AP

Only 17 per cent of the total 6,010 adult ICU beds statewide were available on Tuesday, down from 20 per cent three days earlier.

Additional hospitalizations could strain healthcare systems in many areas, leading to an uptick in lives lost from the respiratory illness that has killed more than 131,000 Americans to date.

At least 923 of those deaths were reported on Tuesday - the biggest single-day toll since June 10 but still far fewer than the record 2,806 tallied back in April.

A widely cited mortality model from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projected on Tuesday that US deaths would reach 208,000 by November 1, with the outbreak expected to gain new momentum heading into the fall.

In Texas, US, nail bars started slowly reopening in May
AFP via Getty Images

A hoped-for summertime decline in transmission of the virus never materialised, the IHME said.

President Donald Trump, who has pushed for restarting the US economy and urged Americans to return to their normal routines, said on Tuesday that he would lean on state governors to open schools in the fall.

Speaking at the White House, Mr Trump said some people wanted to keep schools closed for political reasons.

"No way, so we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools," he said.

In Arizona, another hot spot, the rate of coronavirus tests coming back positive rose to 26 per cent for the week ended July 5, leading two dozen states with positivity rates exceeding 5 per cent.

The World Heath Organisation considers a rate over 5 per cent to be troubling.

The surge has forced authorities to backpedal on moves to reopen businesses, such as restaurants and bars, after mandatory lockdowns in March and April reduced economic activity to a virtual standstill and put millions of Americans out of work.

The Texas state fair, which had been scheduled to open on September 25, has been cancelled for the first time since World War Two, organisers announced on Tuesday.

In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine said the state was ordering people in seven counties to wear face coverings in public starting Wednesday evening.

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