Supporters of US President Donald Trump held a rally in Washington on Saturday a week after the presidential race was called for Democrat Joe Biden. Video / AP
A concerning upward trend in the United States has seen more than 11 million cases of the coronavirus reported in the country, with the most recent million coming in less than a week.
Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker reached 11 million on Sunday (US time). It had topped 10 million cases on November 9.
It took 300 days for the US to hit the 11 million mark since the first case was diagnosed in Washington state on January 20.
Chart shows the latest daily new cases of Covid-19 and the 7-day rolling average of new cases as of November 12. Photo / AP
Covid-19 is spreading more rapidly across the US than it has at any time since the pandemic started.
Deaths are also on the rise, though not at the record high numbers reached in the spring. The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths was more than 1080 as of Saturday, more than 30 per cent higher than it was two weeks earlier.
Covid-19 has now killed more than 246,000 people in the US, according to Johns Hopkins.
Worldwide, more than 54 million coronavirus cases have been reported with more than 1.3 million deaths. The US has about 4 per cent of the world's population, but about a fifth of all reported cases.
According to Reuters, the US could report between 8 million and 13 million more cases of COVID-19 between now and the inauguration.
Joe Biden's coronavirus advisor has warned that the US healthcare system will collapse and Covid-19 patients could die in waiting rooms if cases continue to rise.
Dr Michael Osterholm, who has advocated a NZ-style lockdown, said on NBC's Meet the Press that the US is in a "very dangerous period" and that the health care system is on a "tipping point".
'My worst fear is what we saw happen in other countries where people were dying on the streets. People literally were dying in the waiting room of emergency rooms after spending 10 hours just waiting to be seen," Osterholm said.
"That I hope will not be the way that we finally decide to reduce our risk... I think it is the healthcare systems breaking, literally breaking, that will unfortunately bring us to a sense of reality of what we must do in the short term."
Meanwhile, New York has reported more than 45,700 new coronavirus cases in the past 14 days.
The state is reporting an average of 4163 new cases per day over the past seven days.
Dr. Michael Osterholm. Photo / Getty Images
That's nearly double the rate 11 days ago and quadruple where things stood at the end of September.
In Washington, Governor Jay Inslee has announced new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next four weeks as part of the state's efforts to slow the spread of thevirus.
Starting at 12.01am Tuesday, a host of businesses must close their indoor services, including fitness facilities and gyms, bowling centres, and movie theatres.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee speaks during a news conference on Sunday. Photo / AP
Retail stores, including grocery stores, must limit indoor capacity to 25 per cent. Indoor social gatherings with people from more than one household are also prohibited unless attendees have either quarantined for 14 days before the gathering or tested negative for Covid-19 and have quarantined for seven days.
In West Virginia, another weekly record was set for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, even with one day left to count.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, greets students as they arrive for in-person classes outside Public School 188 in New York. Photo / AP
Health statistics released Sunday show there were 3718 positive cases reported statewide from November 9 through Saturday. That six-day mark broke the record of 2696 cases set for the seven days in the previous week.
The state set three daily marks for confirmed cases in the past week, including a record 821 cases on Friday. Daily records have been set seven times in the past three weeks. There had been no daily records set in the six weeks prior to that, an indication of the recent surge in the virus.
Governor Jim Justice on Friday announced that face coverings will be required at all times in businesses and other indoor spaces. He first issued an indoor mask order in July that did not require masks if social distancing was possible. The new mandate requires masks at all times except when eating or drinking.
