The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 802 583 cases of the novel coronavirus, an increase of 26,490 from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 2 817 to 44 575.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of April 21, compared with its count a day earlier.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Meanwhile, more states in the US South and Midwest signaled readiness to reopen their economies in hopes the worst of the coronavirus pandemic had passed, but California’s governor held firm to sweeping stay-at-home orders and business closures.
The patchwork of still-evolving orders across the 50 states meant some Americans were still confined indefinitely to their homes, unable to work, while others began to venture out for the first time in weeks.
“I wish I could prescribe a specific date to say that we can turn on that light switch and go back to normalcy,” California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in his daily remarks to the nation’s most-populous state on the coronavirus crisis.
The governor said that among the steps health officials would need to take before 40 million Californians could return to jobs, schools and stores would be ramping up testing for the virus to 25,000 patients a day.
Newsom said US President Donald Trump, a Republican, had committed to sending 100 000 testing swabs next week and 250 000 the following week.
Health officials in Santa Clara County, California, said on Wednesday the virus appeared to have circulated there in January, weeks earlier than thought, and early deaths were likely mistaken for the flu.
