#US coronavirus deaths drop for first time in over a month

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A coronavirus patient being taken off an ambulance in Coral Gables, Florida.
Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

The US death toll from the coronavirus fell last week for the first time in over a month, new data shows.

COVID-19-related fatalities dropped to 7,200 for the week ending Aug. 8 — down 16 percent from the previous seven-day period, according to a Reuters tally.

The same week, there were more than 376,000 new infections, or an average of 53,000 per day, the data shows.

Though the country has seen more than 5 million cases, the number of new cases has fallen over the past three weeks.

The decline in cases comes with fewer new infections in hotspots such as Arizona, Florida, California and Tennessee.

However, across the country, the rate of positive tests remains high at 8 percent, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The World Health Organization advises that regions should be seeing rates of 5 percent or lower before considering reopening. Fifteen states were under that threshold last week.

With Post wires