US reported more than 56,000 new cases Monday

Healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) administer tests at a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in Tucson, Arizona on July 13. Cheney Orr/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Surging coronavirus cases across the United States are causing delays in getting test results from laboratories, according to Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of diagnostic services.

“Soaring demand” for a Covid-19 molecular test is “slowing the time” the company can provide test results even after rapidly scaling up its capacity, Quest said Monday.

Increased capacity: The company has already doubled its testing capacity from two months ago, and now is able to perform 125,000 molecular diagnostic tests a day. By the end of the month, it expects to have the capacity for 150,000 tests a day.

Despite this increase in capacity, it's taking up to a day to process test results for its priority patients: hospital patients, pre-operative patients in acute care settings and symptomatic healthcare workers. For all other cases, it’s taking on average seven or more days, said Quest in a press release.

The company is facing challenges in trying to ramp up testing: Global supply constraints are still an issue, the company said. 

The lab network is trying to add new technology platforms and is considering an expansion of its lab referral program.

But the company cautioned that it can’t reduce its turnaround time on testing results as long as Covid-19 cases continue spiking across the country.

This winter, the coronavirus pandemic could create a perfect storm.

In many places, health care systems already struggle in winter; conditions such as asthma, heart attacks and stroke tend to worsen in colder temperatures, and some infectious diseases like influenza spread more easily.

Scientists are warning that countries need to prepare for a potential winter uptick in coronavirus cases that could be more serious than the initial outbreak.

Why winter could see a rise: In cold weather we spend more time indoors in poorly ventilated spaces — exactly the conditions that are likely to make the novel coronavirus spread more easily.

What's more, coronavirus cases will likely become more challenging to track and trace given Covid-19 symptoms are similar to those of winter respiratory bugs.

Expert forecast: As many as 119,900 people could die of coronavirus in UK hospitals between September 2020 and June 2021, warned the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences.

This projection, which the academy called a "reasonable worst-case scenario," is more than double the 45,000 deaths the UK has experienced so far.

This number does not include potential deaths in care homes, which have accounted for 30% deaths in England.

Read more here:

Health personnel care for a child infected with Covid-19 at the Intensive Care ward of the Felipe Urriola Hospital in on July 8 Iquitos, Peru. Cesar Von Bancels/AFP/Getty Images

Peru surged past 330,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases on Monday. It remains the country with the second highest number of cases in Latin America, behind Brazil.

The Peruvian Health Ministry reported 3,797 new cases and 184 new deaths in the past 24 hours.

This raises the country's total to 330,123 cases and 12,054 deaths since the pandemic began.

Volunteers spray disinfectant in an alleyway as a precaution against coronavirus on July 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leo Correa/AP

Brazil has seen more than 260,000 new coronavirus cases in the past week alone, according to data from the Brazilian Health Ministry.

On Monday, the ministry recorded 20,286 new cases, bringing the country's total number of confirmed cases to 1,884,967.

261,683 of those cases came from the past seven days.

The nationwide death toll stands at 72,833.

President tests positive: Among the new cases recorded in the last week was Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who announced he tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro will take another Covid-19 test this week, the official doctor for the presidency told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil on Monday, and reported he is "doing well."

The President also announced that day he had taken hydroxychloroquine on the advice of his medical team and posted a video on his official Facebook page later showing himself taking what he claimed was a third dose of the drug.

Drivers wait to be tested for Covid-19 at a testing site on July 13 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The United States now has at least 3,361,042 cases of coronavirus and 135,582 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

On Monday, the US reported 56,100 new cases and 377 deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Follow our live tracker of US cases here:

Doctors and a respiratory therapist assist a Covid-19 patient at the Juarez de Mexico Hospital, in Mexico City, on July 8. Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images

Mexico confirmed 4,685 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 304,435.

The Mexican Health Ministry also reported 485 new deaths, bringing the country’s coronavirus death toll to 35,491.

President claims progress: Earlier Sunday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said claimed the pandemic "is losing intensity." 

The president made the comments before the Sunday figures were released, but the country has reported consistent daily increases in cases throughout the pandemic.

The National Basketball Association and its players' union said in a joint statement on Monday that two more players have tested positive for Covid-19 at the league’s Orlando campus.

A total of 21 NBA players have tested positive for the virus since July 1.  

Two players returned positive tests while still under initial quarantine after arriving at the NBA’s campus in Orlando. Those players have left the league’s campus to isolate at home or in isolation housing.

The other 19 players tested positive before traveling to the league’s Orlando campus and are in self-isolation at home until being cleared to travel.