US Becomes First Country To Hit More Than 1 Million Coronavirus Cases

The United States became the first country with over one million cases of coronavirus Tuesday, only three months after the first case was reported on US soil. According to a John Hopkins University real-time tracker, the grim tally represents almost a third of the three million cases that have been recorded around the world.

COVID-19 Pandemic Epicenter

The latest data shows that the United States has a total of 1,035,765 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, of which 59,266 patients have already died. The number of recoveries currently stands at 142,238.

The country with the second most number of COVID-19 infections is Spain, with 232,128 confirmed cases and 23,822 deaths, followed by Italy with 201,505 cases and 27,359 fatalities. The data that each country showed is a far cry from that of China, where the coronavirus crisis reportedly began, though the Chinese government has been disputing this. With the latest tally, it shows that the pandemic has shifted its epicenter from Wuhan in China, to the Lombardy region in Italy, and on to the United States.

The Death Toll

According to the John Hopkins University real-time tracker, the United States also leads the world with the highest reported fatalities resulting from the pandemic. Of the 59,266 who already died, almost half of those occurred in New York at 23,144, followed by New Jersey at 6,442, Michigan 3,567, and Massachusetts 3,153. Other states with death tolls that exceed a thousand were Illinois with 2,125 fatalities, Connecticut with 2,089, Pennsylvania at 2,060, California 1,862, Louisiana 1,801, and Florida with 1,171.

The first recorded coronavirus-related death in the US was on Feb 29, with the country experiencing more than 20 COVID-19 deaths per day during the week Mar 16-22. Reports say that COVID-19 is rapidly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States. Data shows that the deadly virus has killed more people per day compared to past top contenders like heart disease and cancer.

Thousands Have Recovered

There is hope, however, as data showed, 142,238 American COVID-19 patients have already recovered in the United States. This number represents approximately 71% of the total confirmed cases.
Front line health workers were among those infected and recovered. Reports say most of them immediately went back to work upon recovery, fighting the same disease that initially struck them down for a week or so.