The US recorded more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday for the fourth day in a row, as the disease continues to spread rapidly in southern and western states.
The sustained increase in deaths comes after several weeks during which the coronavirus case count increased significantly.
It surpassed 4m this week, an increase of 1m in barely a fortnight.
On Friday, 75,193 people had tested positive over the past 24 hours, according to Covid Tracking Project data, up from 71,027 on Thursday. It is the second-biggest one-day jump on record.
The 1,178 fatalities registered on Friday marked the first time since May 23 that deaths have risen by more than 1,000 on four consecutive days. California, Texas and Florida all registered one-day fatality records this week.
