Chicago mayor orders a stay-at-home order from Monday

The 2.7 million residents of Chicago are being told to not leave the house unless absolutely necessary, as Covid numbers nationwide continue to break records

The mayor of Chicago has ordered residents of the third largest city in the US to stay at home and not have visitors for 30 days - not even for Thanksgiving.

Lori Lightfoot said at a Thursday press conference that the new rule would apply from Monday.

Residents should not to leave their homes except to attend school, seek medical care, shop for groceries or pick up takeout food. People should work at home where possible.

Those who leave their homes should wear a face mask.

She also imposed a 10-person limit on weddings, birthday parties, funerals and social events.

The Democrat mayor, 58, said that the measures were necessary to prevent 1,000 more Covid-19 deaths by the end of 2020.

If residents travel out of the state, they must quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative virus test.

Ms Lightfoot said that the city of 2.7 million was stepping up its contact tracing, and would be deploying approximately 2,000 city workers, including up to 550 contact tracers, and a network of hundreds of community-based organisations to reach at least half of all Chicago households.

The advisory came shortly after Illinois health officials announced 12,702 new confirmed and probable cases, topping the record of 12,657 set a day earlier.  

It is the third day in a row with a new daily record for cases in Illinois.

Nationwide, there were 144,000 new cases on Wednesday - a new record.

On Wednesday, the state of Illinois reported 145 newly-confirmed deaths related to Covid-19, the most in a single day since late May and the first time the daily death toll has reached triple digits since early June.

As of Wednesday, nearly 62,000 Covid-19 patients were in hospitals around the country, surpassing the highs of the midsummer and spring surges. This is double the numbers hospitalised as of late September.

The pandemic was ravaging parts of the midwest and west.

Minot, North Dakota has seen more cases per capita in this upsurge than anywhere in the country.  

Wisconsin’s outbreak has escalated more rapidly than those in other states, while the county that includes Los Angeles has reported more virus cases since the pandemic’s start than anywhere else.  

Texas has the most cases of any state, and the most cases reported on college campuses. Texas alone has now had more than a million cases.