FILE PHOTO: Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) arrive with a patient while a funeral car begins to depart at North Shore Medical Center where the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients are treated, in Miami, Florida, U.S. July 14, 2020. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona/File Photo
(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus rose by nearly 1,300 on Tuesday, the biggest one-day increase since May, according to a Reuters tally.
California, Florida and Texas, the three most-populous states, reported one-day record spikes in deaths on Tuesday, together accounting for 584 of the 1,292 new deaths. Arkansas, Montana and Oregon also had one-day record increases in COVID-19 fatalities.
Tuesday’s surge in deaths comes on top of U.S. deaths rising on a weekly basis for three weeks in a row. Last week, fatalities increased by over 1,000 for four days in a row.
A spike in infections in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas this month has overwhelmed hospitals. The rise has forced states to make a U-turn on reopening economies that were restricted by lockdowns in March and April to slow the spread of the virus.
The United States has lost nearly 150,000 people in total since the virus was first detected in the country in January, the highest number in the world. Cases rose by over 64,000 on Tuesday to a total of 4.38 million.
Of the 20 countries with the biggest outbreak, the United States ranks sixth for deaths per capita, at 4.5 fatalities per 10,000 people. It is exceeded by the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Peru and Chile.
Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle