By TAMARA LUSH, NATHAN ELLGREN and TAMMY WEBBER, Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Alarming surges in coronavirus cases across the U.S. South and West raised fears Monday that the outbreak is spiraling out of control and that hard-won progress against the scourge is slipping away because of resistance among many Americans to wearing masks and keeping their distance from others.

The number of new coronavirus cases across the country per day has reached more than 26,000, up from about 21,000 two weeks ago, according to an Associated Press analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Although he asked health officials to renew calls for people to wear masks and keep their distance, Gov. Ron DeSantis has not signaled he will retreat from reopening the state after three months of shutdowns that have damaged the economy.

Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, said the outbreak is “definitely accelerating” in the U.S. and a number of other countries, dismissing the notion that the record-breaking daily levels of new cases simply reflect more testing.

And nearly 1 in 3 people tested overall have turned up positive, according to the WHO’s Ryan, who said the startlingly high number suggests cases are going either unreported or undetected because of a low rate of testing.

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