There have now been more than 2 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, according to a database kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. surpassed the milestone early Thursday morning. More than 112,000 people have died in connection with the virus in the United States — all of them coming since February.
Across the country, many regions are seeing a gradual increase in cases as states ease lockdown restrictions. Earlier this week, 14 states reported 7-day highs associated in newly-reported cases. Some of those see increases have occurred in rural areas of the country.
More than 7.25 million people worldwide have contracted the disease since it was first detected in China late last year. The U.S. continues to lead all countries in confirmed cases, followed by Brazil (about 740,000 cases), Russia (about 493,000 cases) and the United Kingdom (about 290,000 cases).
The U.S.also leads all countries in deaths linked to the virus, followed by the U.K. (about 41,000), Brazil (about 38,000) and Italy (about 34,000).
Health experts suspect that the true number of people who have been infected with the coronavirus is likely much higher. Many people often experience mild symptoms and never seek out a test. Some countries, like the U.S., were also limited by a lack of testing resources at the beginning of the outbreak.
Though there is currently no cure or vaccine for the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases says he hopes the NIH will have a "couple hundred million" doses of a viable vaccine available by the end of the year.
