KEY POINTS The terrifying daily rise in confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 continued Tuesday

New COVID-19 confirmed cases stood at 24,516 while newly reported deaths came to 817

Some 240,000 Americans might die from the disease this year

The United States Tuesday reported another record daily high in new COVID-19 confirmed cases (24,516) and deaths (817), even as president Donald Trump warned Americans they confront a “very, very painful two weeks.”

Record daily spikes in new cases and deaths are horrific features also seen in the other hardest COVID-19-hit countries of China, Italy and Spain. Italy, however, is reporting a welcome leveling off in the total number of daily new cases. Italy said its number of new cases rose by 4,050 on Monday, the lowest number since March 17. The U.S. is weeks away from this outcome and Trump acknowledged it.

“This could be a hell of a bad two weeks," said Trump at a White House press conference. "This is going to be a very bad two, and maybe three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before."

Citing statistical models, especially one developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, the White House now estimates up to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 until early August. They project deaths peaking over the next two weeks.

Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said they still estimate between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the U.S. until the pandemic subsides in July.

“When you look at night, the kind of death that has been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s incredible," declared Trump.

The U.S. still leads the world in the total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections, and has the third largest number of deaths as of Tuesday, 22:58 GMT, according to real-time data website, Worldometer.

The U.S. reported 186,046 total confirmed cases and 24,516 new cases, a new record high in daily cases. There were also 3,807 deaths, an increase of at least 817 from Monday. The 817 deaths in a day is a new record.

At the same time (22:58 GMT) on Monday, there were 161,530 cases in the U.S. (up 18,039 from Sunday) and 2,995 deaths (up 412). There were 24,516 more cases in Tuesday compared to Monday based on Worldometer data.

Photo: AFP / Angela Weiss

Of total U.S. cases, 75,795 were accounted for by New York State. The most COVID-19 infected states are New Jersey (18,696), California (8,254), Michigan (7,615), Florida (6,741) and Massachusetts (6,620).

Six states reported more than 1,000 new cases Tuesday: New York (8,470), New Jersey (2,060), California (1,006), Michigan (1,117), Florida (1,037) and Louisiana (1,212).

The world reported 854,610 confirmed cases Tuesday (up 69,872) and 42,043 deaths (up 4,270). There were also 176,908 confirmed recoveries.

In hard-hit New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the outbreak in the state might not peak for three weeks.

"I’m tired of being behind this virus," he said in exasperation. "We’ve been behind this virus from day one. We underestimated this virus. It’s more powerful, it’s more dangerous than we expected."

Dr. Fauci is again warning Americans to prepare for the worst in April.

“We have to brace ourselves," emphasized Dr. Fauci. "In the next several days to a week or so we are going to continue to see things go up. We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.”