The United States recorded the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 with 52,000 cases in the last 24 hours, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally on Wednesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) delivered a grave warning that the global pandemic is accelerating.
Restaurants, bars and beaches in the world's worst-hit nation closed from California to Florida, as states reeling from yet another surge in the deadly virus braced for Independence Day festivities.
Global infections have hit their highest level in the past week, WHO data showed, with chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying new cases topped "160,000 on every single day."
The grim milestone came as the European Union left the United States, Brazil and Russia off its final list of nations safe enough to allow residents to enter its borders.
Moreover, several US states imposed 14-day quarantines on visitors in the buildup to the long weekend's July 4 celebrations.
California suspended indoor dining at restaurants in Los Angeles and several counties, while New York scrapped plans to allow restaurants to seat customers inside from next week.
President Donald Trump reiterated his belief that the contagion will "at some point… sort of just disappear, I hope."
But the US leader who has yet to be seen in public wearing a face mask during the pandemic added he would have "no problem" doing so.
