On Sunday, the United States overtook Spain for third on the global list of most coronavirus infections, with a new total of 35,224 known cases, as of Mar 22 2330 Pacific Time.

China remains atop the list with 81,454 infections. Italy, meanwhile, has seen its infections surge by 111% in the last week, hitting 59,138 infections with a staggering 5,476 deaths. If it’s current pace of infection holds, it would catch and pass China in as little as four days.


In the US, cases have skyrocketed fivefold in the last five days, from 6,411 on Tuesday Mar 17 to 35,224 on Sunday Mar 22. American deaths have nearly quadrupled in the same five-day timespan, from 114 to 419.

Sunday’s increase in infections was the US’s largest single-day spike yet, with 11,076 new cases reported.

Total infections in the US as of Mar 22. Based on data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering and Worldometer.

New York State, which has emerged as America’s biggest hot spot for infection, now accounts for 48% of the US total (16,916 of 35,224) and 5% of the world’s total (16,916 of 339,645, or 4.98%), which means 1-in-20 people infected with COVID-19 are New Yorkers.

If New York State was its own country, it would rank 7th on the global list of most infections, just ahead of #8 France (16,243) and with more than the #9 and #10 countries combined (South Korea 8,961 + Switzerland 7,474).

Based on data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

New York City is being hit particularly hard, and by far has the largest number of cases in the country. The city accounts for 64% of the New York State’s infections (10,764 of 16,916), and has reported 99 deaths to 54 deaths in the remainder of the state.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo called for some NYC streets to be closed to vehicles in order to allow people more space to social distance, according to the New York Daily News. Cuomo has asked Mayor Bill de Blasio to produce a density reduction plan for the city of 8.7 million people.

Nearly one-third of the US population will soon be under “stay at home” orders, as governors of nine states — New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, California and New York — have signed executive orders to require social distancing, Reuters reports. The mayors of Philadelphia and Dallas have also signed a stay at home orders for their cities. In all, the orders affect approximately 100 million people, according to Reuters.