Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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On Saturday, the United States overtook Germany to become the fourth most heavily infected COVID-19 country in the world. It was the eighth most infected country only on Monday (March 16), based on data from Worldometer, an online reference website for real-time global statistics. There are confirmed COVID-19 cases in all 50 states and the capital, Washington D.C.

There were 20,193 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. on March 21 (Saturday) as of 5:15 GMT, according to Worldometer. The U.S. also tallied 810 new cases in one day to vault past Germany into fourth place on the most infected list. The U.S. has suffered 280 deaths in total with 24 of these being recorded over the past 24 hours. Germany had 19,848 cases on Saturday.

At the top of the list of confirmed cases is China (81,008 and 3,255 deaths), Italy (47,021 and 4,032 deaths) and Spain (21,571 and 1,093 deaths). At the rate it's uncovering infections, the U.S. will displace Spain later on Saturday to become the world's third most COVID-19 infected country.

Worldometer reported 13,783 total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and 207 deaths as of Thursday, 23:05 GMT. It identified 4,524 new cases in the U.S. on Thursday and 57 deaths. The U.S. had the fifth most number of new deaths worldwide on Thursday based on Worldometer data. Italy topped the death list with 3,405 deaths followed by China with 3,245. For the first time, China reported no new domestic cases Thursday.

The rapid speed with which confirmed COVID-19 are emerging in the U.S. has forced four states (New York, California, Illinois and Connecticut) to declare statewide lockdowns in desperate efforts to control the contagion.

These four statewide lockdowns means more than one-fourth of Americans (72 million people) have been ordered to stay home as much as possible to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (or coronavirus disease 2019). In all four states, workers considered essential to a functioning government such as police, doctors, pharmacists, take-out employees and grocery employees are exempt.

California is the most populous U.S. state (40 million). New York is the fourth most populous (19 million) and Illinois, the sixth most populous (12.7 million). Connecticut has a population of 3.6 million, the 29th largest in the country.

Doctors and other healthcare professionals are publicly complaining about their steadily dwindling supplies of respirators, facemasks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other gear needed to keep them safe while fighting COVID-19. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio warned the city was only three weeks away from running out of medical supplies.

An announcement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that healthcare front liners can reuse their masks, or use bandanas and scarves as a last resort, was met with anger and derision from healthcare providers.

TagsCoronavirus, COVID-19, US Coronavirus