Coronavirus infections across the United States have passed 2.5 million, with record numbers of cases reported in the states of Florida and Texas.
The surge in cases in southern states comes after businesses were allowed to re-open in recent weeks.
On Saturday, Florida reported more than 9,500 new cases, up from almost 9,000 on Friday, the previous record.
The spike has led state officials to tighten restrictions on business again - as Texas also did on Friday.
The leading US government adviser on coronavirus, Dr Anthony Fauci, said last week that the country had a "serious problem".
Speaking at the first White House coronavirus task force briefing in two months, Dr Fauci said on Friday that the current rises were due to regions "maybe opening a little bit too early" and to people themselves not following guidance.
"People are infecting other people, and then ultimately you will infect someone who's vulnerable," he said.
Vice-President Mike Pence - who heads the coronavirus task force - has called off campaigning events in Florida and Arizona this week. An unnamed campaign official told Reuters news agency Mr Pence was acting out of an "abundance of caution".
The events were due to drum up support for President Donald Trump's re-election bid.
Mr Pence is still expected to travel to the states to meet health officials, the Associated Press reports.
On Saturday morning, the state reported 9,585 coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. It has set records for new cases almost daily since mid-June.
The total number of cases in Florida so far is over 132,000. More than 3,300 people with Covid-19 have died.
Many other southern and western states have reported record spikes as they moved to re-open and people from other areas poured in in recent weeks.
Last week, Texas, Florida and Arizona put re-opening plans on pause in an effort to tackle the outbreak.
But on Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis imposed new restrictions, ordering bars in the state to stop serving alcohol on their premises - although it was not clear how the new measures would affect restaurants, the Miami Herald reported.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the BBC on Saturday that the "sheer numbers are so high" that they are putting a huge strain on the city's healthcare system.
"Right now we are penalizing those who don't wear masks," Mr. Suarez said, adding that he was looking at potentially implementing new measures: "We may have to, at some point, implement a stay at home order."
And in Texas, which has also seen record numbers of cases this week, Governor Greg Abbott told bars to close and limited restaurants' indoor seating capacity to 50%.
In the Texan town of Galena Park, east of Houston, the mayor imposed an overnight curfew on Saturday and warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53205720