The United States on Friday registered more than 1,00,000 coronavirus cases in 24 hours, setting a new all-time high, reported Reuters. At a daily caseload of 1,00,233 infections, it surpassed India’s single-day tally of 97,894 cases, recorded on September 17.

On Thursday, the US had reported over 91,000 cases. Five times over past 10 days, the country has exceeded its previous single-day record of 77,299 cases registered in July. The US’ overall tally also went past 90 lakh on Friday, which is nearly 3% of its total population.

The country is experiencing a fresh surge in cases with 24 states reporting more cases in the previous week than in any other seven-day stretch, reported New York Times. At least 12 states set single-day case records on Friday.

“The cases continue to increase, the hospitalisations continue to increase and the deaths continue to increase,” Dr Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, remarked while speaking to the newspaper.

The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in the US has risen more than 50% in October to 46,000, the highest figure since mid-August, according to Reuters.

The spike in cases comes just days before the US presidential election on November 3, with the pandemic being one of the raging topics of debate. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has consistently attacked the handling of the crisis by the Donald Trump administration. Trump, on the other hand, has often downplayed the pandemic and even postured against Covid-19 protocols like wearing masks.

The coronavirus has infected more than 4.49 crore people globally and killed 11,80,277, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 3 crore people have recovered from the infection.