Washington, Oct 16 (IANS): In a new ensemble forecast, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has projected up to 240,000 Covid-19 deaths in the country by November 7.

The new national ensemble forecast issued on Thursday predicted that 3,400 to 7,100 new Covid-19 deaths will likely be reported during the week ending November 7, and some 229,000 to 240,000 fatalities will be reported by that date, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The state- and territory-level ensemble forecasts predict that over the next four weeks, the number of newly reported deaths per week may increase in three jurisdictions and decrease in one jurisdiction," said the projection.

Trends in numbers of future reported deaths are uncertain or predicted to remain stable in the other states and territories, said the projection.

Much of the US continues to report an upward trend in Covid-19 cases, with 59,761 new confirmed cases and 831 new deaths reported nationwide on Wednesday alone, according to CDC data.

Single-day new cases have been surpassing 45,000 since October 7, CDC data show, with infections over 50,000 five times since last week.

As of Thursday morning, the nation was averaging 52,345 new cases a day, up 16 per cent from the previous week, according to a report of CNN.

Thirty-five states are showing increases in new Covid-19 cases greater than 10 per cent over the last week compared to the week prior, said the report.

Since Sunday, 21 states have hit their peak seven-day average of new cases since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday morning, the total number of cases in the country stood at 7,977,097 and the fatalities increased to 217,754, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.