California reports more than 7,000 coronavirus cases, biggest daily jump so far, according to the California Department of Public Health.
California recorded an additional 7,149 coronavirus cases since Tuesday. This was a 69% increase in two days, making the state’s total 190,222 cases, according to the state’s health department.
The previous highest day jump was seen on Tuesday when the state had 5,019 additional new cases.
A CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University revealed that California is one of 30 states where case numbers are increasing by 5% or more based on a seven-day average.
The state’s seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 46% compared with a week ago.
Governor Gavin Newsom noted that the state had a record number of tests: 96,000 in the last 24 hours.
There was an increase in the percent of tests coming back positive in the last two weeks, currently at 5.1% on a 14-day average, he said.
Data shows that it can be anywhere from five to 12 days for people to manifest symptoms from the coronavirus.
“I want to remind people that we are still in the first wave of this pandemic,” Newsom said at a press briefing. “I want to remind each and every one of you of the importance and potency and power of your individual decision making.”
No peak yet
However, according to the World Health Organization or WHO, coronavirus in the US had not peaked yet. it is only experiencing sustained community transmission.
As the coronavirus cases near 10 million worldwide, the WHO stresses that countries in the Americas, including North, South and Central America, are suffering sustained community transmission.
“And as such, the journey for them is, unfortunately, the pandemic for many countries in the Americas has not peaked,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s emergencies program, during a press conference at the agency’s Geneva headquarters.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases globally rose by 133,326 on Tuesday, according to WHO. Moreover, more than a third of those cases originated in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and the US. Based on WHO’s data, the US had a combined total of 58,583 new cases in a single day.
The US is still worst-hit country in the world with more than 2.3 million coronavirus cases and 121,279 deaths as of Wednesday, based on the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus-related deaths
Meanwhile, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts there will be over 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the US by October.
Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, encourages Americans to take flu vaccinations as both viruses may add a “tremendous burden” to US hospitals.
Meanwhile, the WHO tells global leaders to reamin “vigilant” on social distancing measures, asking countries not to swiftly reopen businesses.
Ryan noted that parts of the Americas have not marked a low enough level of transmission “with which we can achieve a successful exit of successful and social distancing measures.”
“I would characterize the situation in the Americas in general and in Central and Latin America as still evolving,” he said. It will “likely result in a sustained number of cases and continued deaths in the coming weeks.”
