For now, those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Utah.

"This is a smart thing to do," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said. "We have taken our people, the three of us from these three states, through hell and back, and the last thing we need to do right now is subject our folks to another round."

While new cases have been declining steadily in early US hotspots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day case records on Tuesday, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas. Some of them also broke hospitalisation records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.

"The question of how we're doing as a nation is: We're not doing so well. How are we doing as a state? Not doing so well," said Dr Jeffrey Smith, the county executive in Santa Clara County, California, home to Silicon Valley. Nearly 5600 people have died of the virus in California, the most populous state.

US citizens likely to be left out as Europe reopens borders

Americans are unlikely to be allowed into more than 30 European countries for business or tourism when the continent begins next week to open its borders to the world, due to the spread of the coronavirus and President Donald Trump's ban on European visitors.

More than 15 million Americans are estimated to travel to Europe each year, and such a decision would underscore flaws in the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, which has seen the US record the highest number of infections and virus-related deaths in the world by far.

European nations appear on track to reopen their borders between each other by July 1. Their representatives in Brussels have been debating what virus-related criteria should apply when lifting border restrictions to the outside world, which were imposed in March to stop all non-essential travel to Europe.

In recommendations to EU nations on June 11, the European Commission said "travel restrictions should not be lifted as regards third countries where the situation is worse" than the average in the 27 EU member countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. That is likely to rule out people living in the US.

On Tuesday, America's top infectious-disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, told Congress that the next few weeks were critical to tamping down the surge and that people should avoid crowds or at least wear masks in them.

Hours later, President Donald Trump rallied hundreds of young conservatives in a mega-church in Arizona as the state reported a record 3600 new infections.

Ahead of the event, the Democratic mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, made clear that she did not believe the speech could be safely held in her city, and she urged the President to wear a face mask. He did not. Trump has refused to wear a mask in public, turning it into a conservative-vs-liberal issue.

Outbreak in Beijing slows

Cases are also surging in some other parts of the world. India reported a record daily increase of nearly 16,000 new cases. Mexico, where testing rates have been low, also set a record with more than 6,200 new cases.

But China appears to have tamed a new outbreak in Beijing, once again demonstrating its ability to quickly mobilise its vast resources by testing nearly 2.5 million people in 11 days.

China on Wednesday reported 12 new cases, down from 22 the day before. Beijing reported seven new cases, down from 13.

Officials in Beijing said they tested more than 2.4 million people between June 12 and June 22. That's more than 10 per cent of the capital's population of about 20 million.

Authorities began testing people in and around food markets, then expanded the initiative to restaurant staff and the city's 100,000 delivery workers. China also said it used data to find people who had been near markets for testing. It did not elaborate.

South Korea, which tamed its first wave of infections, is seeing another rise - this time in the Seoul region, where most South Koreans live. Authorities reported 51 cases on Wednesday. The country has reported 40 to 50 new cases a day over the past two weeks.

In India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, the capital city of New Delhi is a rising concern, with the government criticising its poor contact tracing and a lack of hospital beds. India has reported more than 450,000 cases of the virus, including more than 14,000 deaths.

Mexico reported nearly 800 new deaths on Wednesday. The country has recorded more than 190,000 cases and more than 23,000 deaths, though officials acknowledge both are under counts because of extremely low testing rates. Mexico has performed about half a million tests, or one for every 250 inhabitants.

Outbreaks evolve in Europe

In Europe, countries are both easing and increasing restrictions as the outbreaks evolve.

Slovenia reintroduced mandatory use of face masks in public transportation and other enclosed public spaces after cases spiked in recent days, while Belgium said theatres and swimming pools could reopen next month. Infections there have nosedived over the past two months.

In Africa, African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said the outbreak was "picking up speed very quickly," with a steep increase in cases and deaths as more countries loosen lockdowns. Africa has seen nearly 325,000 cases and more than 8600 deaths.

Worldwide, more than 9.2 million people have been confirmed infected, and close to a half a million have died, by Johns Hopkins' count.

World's largest marathon cancelled

The New York City Marathon, originally scheduled to be held on November 1, has been cancelled due of the COVID-19 pandemic, race organisers said.

The New York Road Runners (NYRR), in partnership with the mayor's office, said the decision to cancel the world's largest marathon was made due to novel coronavirus-related health and safety concerns for runners, spectators, volunteers and staff.

"Cancelling this year's TCS New York City Marathon is incredibly disappointing for everyone involved, but it was clearly the course we needed to follow from a health and safety perspective," NYRR Chief Executive Michael Capiraso said in a statement on Wednesday, local time.

The 42.2-kilometre race, which traverses all five boroughs of the city and had 53,640 finishers in 2019, is the second of the six World Marathon Majors to be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

AP with staff reporters