Coronavirus: Fatalities in South and West driving feared increase in US

The number of coronavirus deaths per day in the US has begun to climb, driven by the surge in infections across the south and west of the country.

An upturn was expected given that a death from Covid-19 usually comes several weeks after a person is infected.

With populous states such as Florida, Texas and California recording an explosion in the number of cases in recent weeks, scientists warned that the deaths per day figure would rise too.

“It’s consistently picking up. And it’s picking up at the time you’d expect it to,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.

According to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily reported deaths in the US has increased from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on July 10 — still well below the heights hit in April.

Daily reported deaths increased in 27 states over that time period, but the majority of those states are averaging under 15 new deaths per day. A smaller group of states has been driving the nationwide increase in deaths.

California is averaging 91 reported deaths per day while Texas is close behind with 66, but Florida, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and South Carolina also saw sizeable rises. New Jersey’s…