File photo: Agencies

The United States on Wednesday recorded 63,967 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University reported in its real-time tally.

That brought the total number of cases in the world's hardest-hit country to 3,955,860, the Baltimore-based university said at 8:30 pm (0030 Thursday).

Another 1,059 deaths were reported, bringing the country's total fatalities to 142,942.

The US, after experiencing some improvement, has for several weeks seen its number of cases rise, particularly in the south and west of the country.

With almost 415,00 confirmed cases, California became the US state with the most coronavirus infections, overtaking New York.

The western state, however, has more than twice the population of New York.

More than 7,800 people have died in California since the start of the pandemic, including 115 on Tuesday.