According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, global confirmed cases of the disease reached 38,130,829 today, up 303,235 from the day before. Active cases number 10,576,850, recovered cases number 26,467,823 and fatal cases have reached 1,086,156, a one-day gain of 5,029. At the current rate, global deaths will reach 1.1 million within days.

The number of cases continues to rise quickly in the northern hemisphere, where winter is quickly approaching. With most viruses, the rate of spread rises as people move indoors. This has been true of the flu for decades. Dr. Anthony Fauci recently commented about the spread and the onset of cold weather: “We’ve got to get that down or otherwise, we’re going to have a very tough winter in the next few months.” At the same time, the southern hemisphere has not posted much improvement. Among the hardest-hit nations in the world are Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Chile.

U.S. Confirmed Cases Near 8 Million

The United States remains the country with the most confirmed cases, at 7,954,066. COVID-19 fatalities there stand at 219,254. The rate of the spread has increased sharply in the past two weeks sparking concern that deaths may reach 300,000 by year-end. Confirmed cases were up by 50,148 yesterday. Fauci has said the spread will not be arrested until the average daily increase drops to under 10,000 per day, which is a very long way away.

U.S. confirmed cases are concentrated in the largest states. California has 862,091 and Texas has 840,795. In Florida, there are 738,749 cases, and New York has 481,436. This list is the same as the states when ranked by population. Yet, some of the states where COVID-19 is growing fastest have small populations, most notably North and South Dakota. New York continues to have the largest number of coronavirus deaths by far at 32,905, about 15% of the national total.

Currently ranked second in the world based on confirmed COVID-19 cases, India has 7,241,517. That number grows by nearly 70,000 cases a day, which could pull it ahead of the United States before the end of this month. The coronavirus death count in India stands at 110,645. Health care experts say that because of the size of the nation geographically, and its relatively primitive health care systems, more than 60 million people actually have been infected about eight times the official number. The Indian Council of Medical Research puts the figure as high as 63 million.

Brazil has a confirmed case count of 5,114,823. New cases recently have risen at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 a day. Its COVID-19 deaths number 151,063. As with India, Brazil’s figures are too low. It is nearly impossible to count cases in the nation’s interior. In the poorest parts of the largest cities, packed with impoverished people, the disease is also difficult to track.

Russia has 1,340,409 cases, and fatal cases there stand at 23,205. Most experts say the death count is far too low to be real. It may be that the government has kept counts down to make it appear it has the pandemic under control. Two days ago, Russia posted its biggest one-day increase: 12,846.

Six States Have Confirmed Cases Over a Quarter of a Million

Confirmed cases have grown so fast in the United States that six states have over a quarter of a million cases. The list will grow soon.

As mentioned, in California there are 862,091 and in Texas 840,795. Florida has 738,749 cases and New York has 481,436. Also, Georgia has 333,304, while cases in Illinois number 328,975.

Just below that benchmark, North Carolina has 234,835 and Arizona has 226,749. Each of these states continues to add close to 1,000 confirmed cases a day.

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