The number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals has breached 100,000 — the highest level in eight months — according to the Department of Health and Human Services, as a resurgence of Covid-19 spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant strains the nation's health care system.

US Covid-19 hospitalisations have more than doubled in the past month. Over the past week, more than 500 people with Covid were admitted to hospitals each hour on average, according to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The US reached its all-time peak for hospitalisations on January 6 when there were 132,051 coronavirus-infected patients in hospital beds, according to a Reuters tally.

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