Coronavirus cases are spiking across emerging hotspots in the Midwest and South, reports The Hill.
These include Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, West Virginia and South Dakota.
Illinois reported 80 new deaths and Michigan 100 on Thursday, while Kansas reported its first one-day increase of more than 150 cases. West Virginia added 71 new cases in its worst day so far, while and South Dakota reported 73 new cases and two deaths.
The spike comes as cases in the northeastern U.S. continue to show signs of an approaching apex. Identifying hotspots -- existing and developing -- is critical as officials look to allocate protective gear, medicines and treatment tools to those places most in need.
New York still leads the country with a total of 159,937 confirmed cases and 7,067 deaths, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there had been only 200 net new hospitalizations in 24 hours.
The novel coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has infected more than 1.5 million people worldwide and killed more than 94,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Many states and municipalities have implemented stay-at-home orders, ordering all non-essential businesses to halt work.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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