COVID-19: US adds 1,262 virus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins

Washington: The United States added 1,262 more deaths to its COVID-19 toll in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 pm Wednesday (0030 GMT), according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The world's largest economy also added 53,158 new cases of the virus, the Baltimore-based institution's tracker showed.

The US has now recorded 4,818,328 cases in total, which have resulted in 157,930 deaths, making it by far the worst-hit country in the world.

President Donald Trump nonetheless remained optimistic Wednesday, saying: "This thing's going away. It will go away like things go away and my view is that schools should be open."

The pandemic has seen a resurgence since June in many states, particularly in the south and west.

One of them, Florida, on Wednesday surpassed half a million cases since the start of the crisis.

In Arizona, another badly-hit state, more than 500 inmates in a Tucson jail - more than half the facility's population - tested positive for coronavirus, local prison officials said.