New US Covid-19 cases rose by more than 47,000 on Tuesday according to official figures, the biggest one-day jump since the start of the pandemic, as the government's top infectious disease expert warned the numbers could soon double.
California, Texas and Arizona have emerged as new centers of the pandemic in the United States, reporting record increases in Covid-19 cases.
The surge came on the same day that Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a US Senate committee: "I am very concerned because it could get very bad."
Mr Fauci said the daily increase in new cases could reach 100,000 unless a nationwide push was made to tamp down the resurgent virus.
"We can't just focus on those areas that are having the surge. It puts the entire country at risk," he said.
The country recorded 1,199 fatalities from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, as the country's death toll began to climb again, the Johns Hopkins University tally showed.
The number of daily deaths had not exceeded 1,000 since June 10.
The country has suffered 127,322 deaths overall, according to the Baltimore-based institution as of Wednesday morning.
Following increased death tolls and case numbers, many US states, particularly in the south and west, have had to pause their reopening processes.
On Tuesday, the state of Texas broke its daily record, reporting 6,975 new cases of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, in California, more than a thousand inmates have tested positive for coronavirus in the state's oldest prison, San Quentin, according to local authorities.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced he will not hold rallies during the outbreak, a move that is in stark contrast with President Donald Trump, who has already held large campaign gatherings.
The 77-year-old former vice president delivered a blistering critique of his November opponent's handling of the virus, saying the Republican president had "failed" the country.
"This is the most unusual campaign I think in modern history," Mr Biden said. "I'm going to follow the doc's orders - not just for me but for the country - and that means that I am not going to be holding rallies."
In Brussels, the EU finalised the list of countries whose health situation was deemed safe enough to allow residents to enter the bloc starting on Wednesday.
Notably excluded were Russia and Brazil, as well as the United States, whose daily death toll passed 1,000 on Tuesday for the first time since June 10.
The countries that made it to the EU's list are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Japan, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Travellers from China, where the virus first emerged late last year, will be allowed on the condition that Beijing reciprocates and opens the door to EU residents.
