ORLANDO (Florida) • Texas and Florida, two states that have emerged as the latest hot spots of the United States coronavirus outbreak, have both reported record daily increases in confirmed Covid-19 cases - with nearly 20,000 additional infections combined.

For a sixth straight day on Saturday, Texas also registered an all-time high in the number of people hospitalised with the highly contagious respiratory illness - 7,890 patients after 238 new admissions over the past 24 hours.

Florida's confirmed cases rose by a record 11,458 on Saturday, the state's health department said, marking the second time in three days that its caseload jumped by more than 10,000 in 24 hours. In Texas, the number of new cases rose by a record 8,258 on Saturday.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama all registered new daily highs last Friday.

By comparison, New York state - the US epicentre of the outbreak months ago, reported just 844 hospitalisations on Saturday, far below the nearly 19,000 hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients at the peak of its coronavirus crisis.

During the first four days of this month alone, 14 states have posted daily record increases in the number of individuals testing positive for Covid-19, which has killed nearly 130,000 Americans. Total US infections are over 2.8 million.

And in a further sign the virus is spreading, at least 18 states, including the three most populated - California, Texas and Florida - have posted ominous rates of infection as a percentage of diagnostic tests over the past two weeks.

However, the average daily US death toll has gradually fallen in recent weeks, reflecting the growing proportion of positive tests among younger, healthier people less prone to severe illness when infected. Still, a growing number of states are reporting a troubling upward trend in the percentage of diagnostic tests that come back positive - a key indicator of community spread that experts refer to as the positivity rate.

REUTERS