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New York. — The US now has 3 million documented cases of Covd-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, a virulent bug that crawled into the national consciousness early in the year and now is likely to consume the rest of it.

The milestone reached yesterday represents roughly a quarter of the world’s cases and the same percentage of its deaths.

It took the US a little more than three months to hit 1 million cases on April 28. It took about half that time, 44 days, to get to 2 million on June 11, and only 26 days to reach 3 million on July 8.

By that gauge, if no new measures are taken, 4 million cases could be tallied as soon as July 22.

“Like a runner coming from behind in a macabre race, it has surpassed the death toll of many diseases so many Americans consider important,” says Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Centre on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Hospitalisations continued to rise and ICU beds were quickly filling as the nation surpassed 3 million coronavirus cases yesterday.

The stunning milestone hit less than six months after the first confirmed case was reported January 21, in Everett, Washington.

Tuesday saw a record 60 021 new cases as the nationwide surge showed no signs of ebbing.

The number of new daily cases has risen exponentially since the middle of last month, reaching a record high of 57 209 on July 3.

At a Senate hearing last week, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified that the US is “going in the wrong direction” and that he “would not be surprised if we go up to 100 000 a day if this does not turn around.”

The virus has killed more than 130 000 Americans and put a strain on the health care system.

In California, hospitalisations are up 50 percent from two weeks ago.

In Arizona,  more than 90 percent of its ICU beds were filled, and the percentage was growing.

In Savannah, Georgia, hospitalisations have nearly quadrupled in a month.

In Florida at least 56 hospital intensive care units have reached capacity — and some Republican senators said they won’t attend the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville next month. — US Today.