A continued surge in new cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, including another record one-day rise globally — and with more than three-fourths of the U.S. states seeing an increase in cases — has prompted calls for new shutdown measures, at a time that President Trump claimed that he is now immune and can’t transmit the virus to others.
The global case tally jumped by a record 378,044 cases on Saturday, a 5% increase from the previous record set the day before of 359,926 cases, according to the World Health Organization. The number of daily cases fell back to 347,529 on Sunday.
The global death toll increased by 8,570 on Saturday, up 34% from Friday, falling back to 5,497 on Sunday, the WHO data showed.
In the U.S., the case count increased by 53,055 in the past day, after rising by a total of 112,060 over the weekend, according to the WHO. To put the daily increase in perspective, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious-disease expert, said in August the U.S. needed to bring its daily case count down to 10,000 by September to gain some control over the pandemic; in September, he said he was “more depressed” every day given the U.S.’s “lack of success” in containing the pandemic and warned against looking on the “rosy side.”
On Sunday, the U.S. case count rose by 57,828, the most in a day since Aug. 9.
This comes as Trump continues to paint an optimistic picture, saying on Fox News over the weekend that he considers the antibody treatment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN, -0.45% that he received at the Walter Reed military hospital “a cure.”
But Regeneron Chief Executive Leonard Schleifer cautioned on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump’s case was just “a case of one,” and that his results were “just low down on the evidence scale” that is needed to gauge the efficacy of the treatment.
Trump also tweeted on Sunday that he was now “immune,” and can’t transmit the coronavirus. But Twitter Inc. flagged that tweet as “misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
Also read: Trump to return to campaign trail despite unanswered questions about his health.
Overall, the global case tally reached 37,587,354 as of Monday morning, and the death toll climbed to 1,077,718, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, with India joining the U.S. with more than 7 million cases.
The U.S. continued to lead the way in cases with 7,764,270 and deaths with 214,788, the Johns Hopkins data show.
There are 38 states showing an increase in cases over the past week, up from just 26 states seeing a rise in cases last week. Florida led the way with 5,570 new cases in a day, the Johns Hopkins data show, about double second-place California at 2,780 in the past day. And 31 states are seeing at least 5% of their COVID-19 tests turning up positive results; the WHO says positivity rates should remain below 5%.
In other news:
The average current hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the U.S. rose by 8.9% last week to 33,050, according to Raymond James, showing that recent surges in cases are beginning to “create another surge of strain in our healthcare system.”
• A study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, indicated that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can survive for up to 28 days on some surfaces, including phone screens and stainless steel. In comparison, Influenza A has been found to survive on similar surfaces for 17 days.
“While the precise role of surface transmission, the degree of surface contact and the amount of virus required for infection is yet to be determined, establishing how long this virus remains viable on surfaces is critical for developing risk mitigation strategies in high contact areas,” said Dr. Debbie Eagles, deputy director of Director of Australian Centre for Disease Peparedness.
• U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced stricter rules for England as new cases spike, despite protests at the economic costs of the new measures. He announced a three-tier system of alerts for separate regions, with the “very high” tier leading to closures of bars, casinos and gyms. The city of Liverpool will be placed on “very high” alert on Wednesday.
The new restrictions come as England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, warned that the U.K. is at a “tipping point,” similar to where it was in March.
• France’s prime minister, Jean Castex, warned that France could impose further restrictions as new cases continue to rise, and as the situation in the country’s hospitals deteriorate. A number of major cities, including Paris, have been placed under maximum virus alert.
• Fauci said a new Trump campaign ad takes his words about Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic out of context and without his approval. He said the words the ad used were from an interview in March about a more general response to the outbreak, and did not mention Trump. “In my nearly five decades in public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci said.
• The infection rate rose over the weekend in some New York City hot spots where social-distancing restrictions have been tightened. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the average positivity rate rose to 5.74% on Saturday in the hot spots from 4.95% on Friday. That compares with the overall infection rate of 0.96% around the state.
Latest tallies
India has joined the U.S. as the only two countries with cases totals above 7 million, as the country reached 7,120,538, according to the Johns Hopkins data. India remained third in the world in deaths at 109,150.
Brazil is third with 5,094,979 cases, but second in deaths at 150,488.
Russia is fourth globally and tops in Europe with 1,305,093 cases, while Mexico is fourth in the world by deaths at 83,781. The U.K. is fifth globally and leads Europe with 83,781 deaths, but is 12th globally in cases at 606,448. Mexico is ninth in cases at 817,503.
China, where the illness was first reported late last year, is 46th in the world with 90,823 cases, and is 34th with 4,739 fatalities.
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