US death toll remains above 1,400 for second straight day
Peter Wells in New York
The US coronavirus death toll remained above 1,400 for a second straight day, but there were signs the pandemic was continuing to ease nationwide amid improvements in the hardest-hit states.
A further 1,402 people died from coronavirus-related illness over the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities to more than 87,000, according to data compiled on Wednesday by the Covid Tracking Project, and around levels lower than earlier this month.
The daily tally was down slightly from 1,430 on Tuesday. Rates from Monday and Sunday were both below 1,000.
For the second day in a row, the rise in the death rate was led by New Jersey and Illinois, with the second- and sixth-worst hit states overall reporting a further 161 and 146 deaths, respectively.
New York, the hardest-hit state, again posted the third-highest daily rate, with an additional 133 deaths over the past day.
Since the pandemic began in the US, 87,472 people have died from coronavirus.