Confirmed coronavirus cases top 1 million in US. ‘We have to have a breakthrough’
The United States has surpassed 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University reports.
The total is 1,002,498 as of Tuesday afternoon.
The U.S. has more than 57,000 confirmed deaths, and over 5.6 million have been tested for coronavirus, the university reports. Most cases are located in New York — 295,106 — followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, California and Pennsylvania.
There have been more than 3 million confirmed cases globally and over 213,000 deaths, according to data from the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The U.S. has the most confirmed cases, followed by Spain at 232,128 and Italy at 201, 505, the university says.
On Sunday, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx told “Meet the Press” that while social distancing “will be with us through the summer,” current coronavirus trends give her hope for slow re-openings in the months to come, NBC News reported.
She added that the U.S. needs a “breakthrough” in testing for the virus to get a better picture of its spread, according to the outlet.
Birx said the task force plans to continue working with states to increase testing for those who are ill with the virus, adding that “at the same time, we have to realize that we have to have a breakthrough innovation in testing” for people who’ve already had coronavirus with mild or no symptoms, the outlet reported.
The comments come after the World Health Organization stated that there’s no evidence suggesting that having had coronavirus makes a person immune to catching it a second time.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the WHO said in a statement Friday.
China, Japan and South Korea have all reported incidents of patients being diagnosed for coronavirus twice, McClatchy News reported.
The incidents in China are believed to be due to testing errors and not reinfection, but in Japan and South Korea, some have tested positive for COVID-19 after seemingly recovering, the report said.
The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December and is believed to have been transmitted to humans from bats or pangolins, McClatchy reported.
The WHO declared the coronavirus a global pandemic in March. In the U.S., President Donald Trump declared a national emergency.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Confirmed coronavirus cases top 1 million in US. ‘We have to have a breakthrough’."