According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 10,268,786, after a one-day gain of 122,839. The World Health Organization has warned these numbers will continue to rise rapidly. For weeks, the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the rest of Europe had decreasing numbers of new cases and deaths, while the figures picked up in Russia, India, Brazil, Peru and Chile. This is no longer true, particularly due to an extremely large surge in the U.S. cases. That surge has gotten worse during the past several days as the disease has moved from the badly battered Northeast and Michigan and Illinois to states in the south and west.

Active cases worldwide are up to 4,554,632, and they are 45% of the total of global confirmed cases. The recovered case count is 5,209,809, which is up by 68,822. The positive difference between the numbers of recovered cases and active cases worldwide continues to show improvement. It has moved above 600,000 for the first time, one of the few good signs as the pandemic continues.

Global fatal cases have hit 504,345, higher by 2,447. The increase per day has moderated. However, at the current pace, the figure still could move above 600,000 well before the end of July.

As noted, the acceleration of the spread of the disease worldwide is because of an explosion of new cases in America. The increase in confirmed cases there has been by more than 30,000 in each of the past five days and jumped by over 40,000 on two of those days. Several large states are responsible for the U.S. swell, including the three largest by population: California, Texas and Florida. These three states have about 26% of the U.S. population total. Increases are not isolated to them though. The numbers also are rising quickly in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Total confirmed cases in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, have reached 2,638,086, after rising by 44,917 in the past day. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) commented that the actual U.S. confirmed case figure may be above 20 million and many of these people have no symptoms. The official U.S. confirmed cases count is 26% of the world’s total.

Active U.S. COVID-19 cases number 1,698,888, and recovered cases have reached 811,095, a one-day gain of 22,191. It remains a bad sign that there are many more active cases than recovered ones. American coronavirus fatalities have hit 128,103, or 410 higher, as the pace starts to accelerate.

One theory suggests that deaths will pick up after confirmed cases rise sharply. There is a lag of as much as two weeks between when a person becomes infected and when serious symptoms arise. The number of asymptomatic cases in America may be well into the millions as well. That means much of the spread is hard to track.

Texas and Florida Jump Ahead of Illinois

For weeks, Illinois was among the five hardest-hit states. It was battered early by the spread, along with Michigan and most states in the Northeast. Its status on the list of states based on confirmed cases has changed. By that measure, Texas and Florida recently passed Illinois.

Illinois has dropped to seventh on the confirmed cases list with a total of 142,461, up a modest 738. COVID deaths stand at 6,902, a gain of 14. Texas is now in fourth place, behind New York, California and New Jersey. Confirmed cases in Texas added 4,283 to hit 153,011. The death count is 2,403, higher by 10. Once again, in Texas, it may be that the lag between confirmed cases and fatalities could account for the fact that deaths there are so much lower than in Illinois.

Florida moved into sixth place based on confirmed cases, with 146,341, or 5,266 higher. Fatalities increased by 28 to 3,447.

Both Texas and Florida could pass New Jersey, which is in third place based on confirmed cases, with 171,272, which is 90 higher. Deaths in New Jersey are at 14,992, a one-day gain of 1,871. This sharp increase was due to the state’s new review of death certificates.

India’s Numbers Start to Surge

India has reported a modest number of cases for a nation its size. Measured by population, it ranks second in the world at 1.35 billion, just behind China.

Some experts believe that the figures for India are underestimated. They stand at 568,346 but rose an exceptional 18,360. Deaths number 16,919, up by 415.

The question about whether the Indian figures are low is one in common with other developing nations, which may not have the data-gathering infrastructure to provide accurate counts.

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