According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 10,512,383, after rising 61,755 in a day. The United States accounted for 58,152 of those confirmed cases. 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 the extremely large surge in the U.S. cases. The American 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 4,612,803, and they are 44% of the total of global confirmed cases. The recovered case count is 5,387,249, which is up 50,253. The positive difference between the numbers of recovered cases and active cases worldwide has shown improvement. It has moved above 700,000 for the second time, one of the few good signs as the pandemic continues.

Global fatal cases have hit 512,331, an increase of 1,699 from the day before. The daily gain has moderated. However, at the current pace, the figure still could move above 600,000 by mid-August.

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 few days and jumped by over 40,000 three of those days. Today, it topped 50,000 for the first time. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the increase soon could top 100,000 per day.

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, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Total confirmed cases in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, have reached 2,738,113, after rising by 58,152 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 1,766,560, and recovered cases have reached 841,452, a one-day gain of 15,671. It remains a bad sign that the active case count is so much higher than that of recovered ones. American coronavirus fatalities have hit 130,101, up by 1,409, as the pace continues to accelerate.

One theory suggests that deaths will pick up soon as confirmed cases have risen sharply. Between when a person becomes infected and when serious symptoms arise there can be a lag of as much as two weeks. 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 Confirmed Cases Each Near 160,000

Several days ago, it was difficult to think that states outside New York (394,079), California (232,697) and New Jersey (171,928) could have confirmed cases over 160,000. That has changed very quickly. Not only do Texas and Florida have confirmed case counts near that figure, but those counts are rising rapidly.

Texas now has 159,986 confirmed cases, and COVID deaths stand at 2,424. Harris County, the largest in Texas and home to Houston, has been hit particularly hard. Confirmed cases there number 31,422, with 378 fatalities.

Florida has 158,997 confirmed cases, a one-day gain of 6,563. For contrast, confirmed cases rose by only 625 in New York State. Florida’s death count is 3,550, after adding 45. The number of New York’s deaths rose by only 11.

Confirmed case totals in Texas and Florida likely will pass those in New Jersey, which stand at 171,928 now, after rising by 261.

Peru and Chile Cases Near 300,000

Peru and Chile have fairly small populations but rank sixth and seventh, respectively, based on global confirmed cases. They are behind the United States (2,738,113 cases), Brazil (1,453,369), Russia (654,405), India (605,220) and the United Kingdom (313,483).

Peru’s population is 32,824,358, which puts it 44th in the world. Chile, with a population of 19,458,310, is 60th.

Confirmed cases in Peru have surged 3,264 to 288,477, and 183 more deaths bring that total to 9,860. Chile’s confirmed cases number 282,043, up by 2,650. Its death count increased by 65 to 5,753.

The figures put the two South American nations ahead of one of the nations most battered early in the spread of COVID-19. Italy’s confirmed cases number 240,760, up by 182. Deaths stand at 34,788, or 21 higher.

Why are the numbers of confirmed cases in Peru and Chile so high? One reason is that these nations are near extremely hard-hit Brazil. Others are that many people there live in crowded urban areas and that medical care in each nation is poor.

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