US officials warn of 'disturbing surge' in coronavirus cases

Speaking at a rally in Arizona, President Trump said the virus is 'going away' despite record outbreaks in several states

US President Donald Trump speaks during a students for Trump event at the Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona on June 23, 2020. AFP

US officials have warned of a surge in coronavirus cases across the country following a 25 per cent increase in new infections in the week ending June 21, compared to the previous seven days.

Ten states reported weekly new infection increases of more than 50 per cent, according to Reuters data. In, Texas over 5,000 new infections were reported on Monday, a single-day record for the state, which has also seen Covid-19 hospitalisations hit record highs for 11 days in a row.

While most states are increasing testing, the number of tests coming back positive is also rising. At least four states are averaging double-digit rates in the percentage of positive tests for the virus: Arizona at 20 per cent, Florida and Utah both at 11per cent, and Texas at 10 per cent.

By contrast, New York, formerly the epicentre of the US outbreak, has been reporting positive test rates of around 1 per cent.

The World Health Organisation considers positivity rates at above 5 per cent to be especially concerning. On Tuesday, the WHO warned that the pandemic was accelerating as virus Covid-19 cases topped nine million worldwide, with the US continuing to report the highest number of cases, at more than 2.4 million.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday held fast to his claim that the spike in US cases in multiple states was due to testing, not increased spread of the disease.

“Cases are going up in the US because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!” he tweeted.

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, said he was seeing a "disturbing surge of infection" and "increased community spread" in many southern and western states, pointing to community spread as one reason infections were on the rise.

"A couple of days ago there were 30,000 new infections" in a single day, he said. "That's very troubling to me."

Speaking before a congressional committee investigating the US response to the pandemic, he said "the next couple of weeks are going to be critical to address those surges that we're seeing in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and other states"

Many of these states are also seeing record hospitalisations - a metric not affected by increased testing. In Arizona, hospitalised Covid-19 patients hit a record of over 2,100 on Tuesday, up 70 per cent from two weeks ago.

Days after his first rally since early March drew a smaller-than-expected crowd in Oklahoma, where Covid-19 cases are also climbing fast, Mr Trump travelled to Arizona on Tuesday for another rally and to tout the construction of a border wall.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to challenge Mr Trump in the November 3 election, called the president’s plans to speak to thousands of supporters in Phoenix “reckless and irresponsible.”

The state passed its record for new daily infections hours before Mr Trump arrived and told students gathered in a megachurch that the coronavirus "plague" is "going away."