United States approaching 5 million coronavirus cases as number of infections begin to drop

The number of Americans that have been infected with coronavirus inched closer to 5 million on Friday, even as new cases in the nation continued to drop.

According to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States had diagnosed more than

4.8 million COVID-19 infections by Friday morning, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the 19.1 million cases globally. The U.S. also recently surpassed 160,000 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 death projections late Thursday, forecasting that America’s toll could reach 190,000 by the end of August.

Officials noted that while “deaths may decrease,” there will likely be another 15,000 to 30,000 Americans who will die from coronavirus in the next 23 days.

Still, new infections and fatalities over the course of the last week have both decreased – at least 396,559 new cases were confirmed during the period of July 29 and Aug. 5, which is a 12.6% decrease from the previous seven-day period, ABC News reported.

There were 7,348 deaths recorded in the same time frame, marking a 2.4% decrease in new deaths compared with the previous week.

The United States is one of the hardest-hit nations by the global coronavirus pandemic. In a bid to slow the fast-spreading illness, local governments have ordered the closures of restaurants and businesses, which in turn has put millions out of work.

Some cities across the nation experienced a resurgence in cases last month, prompting criticism for local leaders accused of reopening their shuttered communities too soon.