The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US has surpassed nine million, with daily records showing a surge in many states.

According to data published by worldometers.info, the US now has 9,101,000 infections, a world record.

The figure represents a fifth of the 44,684,967 global infections.

The world record death toll has also increased to 232,919, with close to 2,000 people dying in the last 48 hours.

The data, published by 2300 GMT on Wednesday showed that on Tuesday, 1,040 people died, as 75,099 new infections were recorded.

On Wednesday, the death tally had reached 834 as at the time of this report.

Explosion in COVID-19 cases, along with the inability of the Trump administration to arrest it, is a major issue in the US election on 3 November.

Trump’s challenger Joe Biden of the Democrats has been whipping Trump with it, deriding him for his inability to stem the pandemic.

A record 74 million people had already cast their ballots on Wednesday, more than 50 percent of the total votes recorded by Hillary Clinton and Trump in 2016.

By Bayo Onanuga