Washington, November 9 (RHC)-- The United States has become the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the COVID-19 virus surges across the nation.

The grim milestone came on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.  The United states has reported about a million cases in the past 10 days, the highest rate of infections since the nation reported its first novel coronavirus case in Washington state 293 days ago.

The country reported a record 131,420 COVID-19 cases on Saturday and has reported over 100,000 infections four times in the past seven days, according to a Reuters tally.

The U.S. reported a seven-day average of 105,600 daily cases, ramped up by at least 29%.  The figure is more than the combined average for India and France, two of the worst affected countries in Asia and Europe.

Over 237,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the illness caused by the coronavirus first emerged in China late last year.  The daily average of reported new deaths in the United States account for one in every 11 deaths reported worldwide each day, according to the latest data.

The U.S. Midwest remains the hardest-hit region based on the most cases per capita with North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska the top five worst-affected US states.  Illinois emerged as the new epicenter in the Midwest, with the state reporting over 60,000 COVID-19 infections in the last seven days, the highest in the country, according to Reuters data.  The state reported more than 12,454 new cases on Saturday, the highest single-day number so far.

Texas, which accounts for 10% of total US cases, is the hardest-hit state and became the first to surpass a million coronavirus cases in the United States on Saturday.

According to the latest figures, the South region comprises nearly 43% of all the cases in the United States since the pandemic began, with nearly 4.3 million cases in the region alone, followed by the Midwest, West and Northeast.

New York, with over 33,000 fatalities, remains the state with highest number of deaths and accounts for about 14% of total US deaths.

The United States performed about 10.5 million coronavirus tests in the first seven days of November, of which 6.22% came back positive, compared with 6.17% the prior seven-days, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.