US breaks single-day records for Covid hospitalisations and cases, with 140,000 new infections

The United States has broken another pandemic record, with more than 140,000 new cases recorded in the previous 24-hour period.

It marked the ninth straight day of new cases topping 100,000, with 142,279 new cases reported on Wednesday, according to Reuters analysis.  

The previous high had been recorded as recently as Tuesday, when 136,325 new cases were reported, and as the White House coronavirus task force warned of a nationwide “acceleration”.

In Texas alone, new daily cases have topped 10,000 on two days in the past week, with new state records set.

Hospitalisations are also at their highest point at any time in the pandemic, reported Reuters, with at least 64,939 Americans hospitalised with the virus on Wednesday.

It comes as conditions worsen across the Northeast, the Sun Belt and the Midwest, where hospitalised coronavirus patients have doubled over the past month, CNN reported.

“The United States is experiencing an unprecedented surge of hospitalisations across the country,” the Covid Tracking Project said on Wednesday. “There are now 40 per cent more people hospitalised with Covid-19 than there were two weeks ago".

Hospitals in Texas and 16 other states were also said to be “on the brink” as health systems in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and others neared capacity.

States were warned on Tuesday to expect an “acceleration” in Covid-19 cases across the US, with the White House coronavirus task force saying there was "continued, accelerating community spread across the top half of the country, where temperatures have cooled and Americans have moved indoors”.

The United States has reported roughly 10.4 million cases and more than 241,000 deaths since the pandemic started.