U.S. adds 1 mln COVID-19 cases in 7 days

The United States reported more than one million new COVID-19 cases over the past week, a 26 percent increase over the previous week, according to latest data of the COVID Tracking Project.

This wave of cases came in a time when hospital systems across the country are already inundated with COVID-19 patients and are warning of staff shortages.

Currently nearly 80,000 people in the United States are hospitalized with COVID-19, an all-time high since the pandemic began, according to the tracking project.

This week, states across the country reported 8,461 deaths, the highest weekly death count since May, data showed.

Fifteen states hit all-time records for new cases this week, five are in the Northeast. Nationally, the 7-day average for daily reported cases has almost doubled since Nov. 1.

"At the moment, we don't see any indications that we've reached a peak," said the project.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday that 185,095 new COVID-19 cases and 2,045 new deaths were recorded in the country on Thursday.

The new daily case count marked the 12th consecutive day that daily case increase in the United States surpassed 100,000, and also pushed the 7-day average daily increase to over 160,000 cases.

With COVID-19 cases surging across the United States, long-term care facilities experienced their highest weekly increase in six months, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

Record numbers of cases and hospitalizations brought unprecedented pressure to healthcare systems around the country. Health experts are concerned hospitals in most U.S. states may reach capacity this month.

The United States has recorded more than 11,859,000 cases with more than 253,900 related deaths as of Friday evening, according to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.