More than 800 Die of COVID-19 in U.S. in 24 Hours

The United States has recorded another 839 coronavirus-related fatalities in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's death toll to 114,613, according to a tally Friday by Johns Hopkins University.

The world's top economy is the most affected by the pandemic in absolute terms, with both the highest number of deaths and the largest number of infections -- 2,044,572 at 8:30 pm Friday (0030 GMT Saturday), a tracker maintained by the Baltimore-based university showed. 

The US continues to register around 20,000 new cases of coronavirus each day, and is struggling to come down from that plateau as infection rates wax and wane around the country. 

In some more sparsely populated rural regions, the number of hospitalizations is climbing compared to a month ago. 

"It's important that we remember that this situation is unprecedented. And that the pandemic has not ended," Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a media briefing on Friday.

President Donald Trump's administration allows that there are new flare-ups in coronavirus caseloads in some states but insists there will be no shutdown of the economy if a second full-blown wave arises.