Washington, Oct 30 (IANS): The US has registered a new record for the highest number of single-day Covid-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic in the country, with a total of 81,599 people testing positive for the virus in a span of 24 hours, health authorities said.

Thursday's figure is the third time that the daily caseload has hit over 80,000 in the past week, Xinhua news agency quoted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as saying in its latest update.

The 7-day average daily cases in the country have been on a rise since early September, surpassing 60,000 since October 22.

The country is adding an average of 74,532 new Covid-19 cases to the national total as of Thursday.

Altogether 41 states are reporting at least 10 per cent more cases compared to the week before, according to CNN report.

Meanwhile, the daily death count hit nearly 1,060 on Wednesday, with an average count at about 800 per day, CDC data showed.

With the new figures, the country's overall caseload and the death toll currently stood at 8,943,577 and 228,636, respectively.

Currently there are 45,000 hospitalized cases nationwide, according to latest figure of The Covid-19 Tracking Project.

In the Midwest, residents are being impacted by the rising cases with spiking rates of hospitalizations.

Indiana and Wisconsin reported their peak levels of coronavirus hospitalizations.

Kansas saw the most ICU hospitalizations of the virus in one day, the same day the state surpassed 1,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to CNN report.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday he supports a national mask mandate as the weather continues to grow colder.

"We're going to have many more hospitalizations and that will inevitably lead to more deaths. So, this is an untenable situation. That's the reason why I say we have got to do these things," he said.

As cases continue to jump during the fall, Fauci said there is little chance of normalcy on the horizon.