The number of global deaths attributed to Covid-19 rose by 9,624 yesterday – with the US accounting for nearly half of those cases. America’s death toll jumped by 4,591 in a single day.
The sharp rise was caused by a change in the way states are reporting deaths to the federal authorities.
New York State identified and reported 3,778 extra deaths of people who probably had Covid-19 but died before being tested. Other states are likely to follow suit.
America has reported a total of 32,916 deaths since the start of the outbreak – nearly a quarter of the world’s total.
Many other countries around the world are only counting people who had tested positive for Coronavirus when they died.