US COVID spike: ‘More pain and suffering’ ahead, says Fauci

The rise in US coronavirus cases amid the spread of the Delta variant prompts renewed call for more Americans to get vaccinated.

“Things are going to get worse if you look at the acceleration of the number of cases, the seven-day average has gone up substantially,” said Fauci, explaining that some 100 million people who are eligible for COVID-19 jabs have not been inoculated.

Anthony Fauci tells @jonkarl, "things are going to get worse," as COVID-19 cases surge with delta variant.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the US rose from 30,887 on July 16 to 77,827 on July 30.

The seven-day rolling average for the country’s daily new deaths rose over the same period from 253 on July 16 to 358 on July 30, though death reports generally lag weeks after infections and even longer after hospitalisations.

Several US states are seeing a surge in infections, including Florida, which has emerged as the country’s new coronavirus epicentre and reported its highest single-day total of new COVID-19 cases with 21,683 new infections on Saturday.