The U.S. smashed the record for the highest single-day coronavirus death toll on Wednesday with 2,804, as cases and fatalities surge to levels not seen even when the pandemic first gripped the nation in the spring.
The previous high was on April 15, when the U.S. logged 2,603 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The tracker initially reported an even higher number of 3,157 for Wednesday before revising that total. Nevertheless, the past two days account for two of the top three daily death totals since the start of the pandemic, with 2,597 recorded Tuesday.
The remaining two days in the top five also came in April — 2,570 on April 7 and 2,542 on April 21, CNN reported.
As of Thursday, the U.S. has roughly 14 million coronavirus cases and 275,000 related deaths — both tops globally — according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.