U.S. known cases of COVID continued their upward march on Friday, as hospitalizations and deaths also rose by double-digit amounts. The daily average of new cases stood at 66,179 on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 53% from two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was up 30% at 37,066, while the daily average for deaths is up 35% to 460. New York City has again become a hotspot with cases there climbing about 60% in recent weeks, and hospitalizations at their highest level since February. In China, an easing of restrictions has as feared led to a surge in cases, the Associated Press reported. Official data showed a fall in new cases, but those no longer cover big parts of the population after the government on Wednesday ended mandatory testing for many people, said the AP. Globally, the confirmed case tally rose above 648 million on Friday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins, while the death toll is above 6.65 million with the U.S leading the world with 99.4 million cases and 1,084,236 fatalities.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.