WASHINGTON,   (Xinhua) -- U.S. coronavirus cases rise by nearly 55,000 over the past 24 hours Thursday, a new one-day record surge, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The national count of confirmed cases has surpassed 2.7 million to reach 2,735,554, with 128,684 deaths, according to the university's latest tally.

The southeastern U.S. state of Florida on Thursday also smashed the previous single-day record, reporting 10,109 new cases, according to the state's Department of Heath.

Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the daily increase in COVID-19 infections could reach 100,000 if current outbreaks were not contained.  ■