Florida records largest single-day increase in COVID cases

ST. PETERSBURG (AP) — Florida shattered the national record on Sunday for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases as its daily average death toll continued to also rise.

State health department statistics showed that 15,299 people tested positive, bringing the total to 269,811 cases, while 45 deaths were recorded.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases – 11,694 set last Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on April 15.

The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as

Florida reported 514 fatalities – an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day.

Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.

If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India, according to a Reuters analysis.

Florida’s daily increases in cases also have already surpassed the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the pandemic in the continent.