Health officials in the US estimated that at least 20 million people may already have been infected with the coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that the actual number of infections is expected to be 10 times more than the cases reported.

The statement comes the state of Texas decided not to reopen after cases increased.

The US has 2,504,676 confirmed cases of coronavirus out of which 126,785 have died whereas 1,052,389 have recovered. The number of active cases in the US is 1,325,502.

Globally, there are 9,714,951 confirmed cases of Covid-19 out of which 491,868 have died whereas 5,250,218 have recovered. The number of active cases is 3,972,865 worldwide.

The University of Washington expects 180,000 US deaths by October – or 146,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield informed the reporters, “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually were 10 other infections,”

He said that this was because testing was limited to people with symptoms and asymptomatic carriers were not tested. “We probably recognized about 10% of the outbreak by the methods that we use to diagnosis between the March, April, and May,”

Dr. Redfield urged Americans to continue wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. He said that around 5 to 8% of people had been exposed to the virus. 

“As we go into the fall, in the winter, these are going to be really, really important defense mechanisms,”

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