U.S. surpasses 8 million COVID-19 cases: 'We are headed in the wrong direction'

The number of COVID-19 cases reported in the United States has surpassed eight million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has seen a rising number of new daily coronavirus infections with a one-week average of more than 53,000 cases a day, an increase of over 55 percent in about a month, CNN reports.

New COVID-19 cases have been rising over the past two weeks in 41 states, with nine states reporting about the same number of cases during that time and none experiencing a decline, The New York Times reports.

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"We are headed in the wrong direction," Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers told the Times.

On Thursday, the U.S. reported more than 63,000 new COVID-19 cases, which was the highest one-day total since the end of July, The Washington Post reported.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, had previously stressed over the summer the need for the U.S. to get its number of daily COVID-19 cases down to 10,000 by September to avoid another giant wave, a goal that was ultimately not reached. Regarding the number of new cases being reported each day right now, Fauci this week told CNBC, "That’s a bad place to be when you're going into the cooler weather of the fall and the colder weather of the winter," adding, "We're in a bad place now. We've got to turn this around."