Washington, Dec 11 In yet another grim milestone, the number of coronavirus deaths in the US has surpassed the 292,000 mark, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country's death toll has increased to 292,001, while the caseload stood at 15,599,122.
With the two new tallies, the US remains the hardest-hit nation by the pandemic, with the world's highest caseload and death toll, accounting for more than 18 per cent of the global fatalities.
According to CSSE data, New York state reported 35,183 fatalities, the highest in the country.
Texas recorded the second-highest fatalities at 23,657, while the states of California, Florida and New Jersey all confirmed more than 17,000 deaths.
States with more than 10,000 fatalities also include Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan.
On Wednesday, the country registered 3,124 fatalities, the largest single-day death toll since the onset of the pandemic.
It was also the first time that the daily deaths had crossed the threshold of 3,000.
Meanwhile, current hospitalisations in the US hit an all-time high of 106,671 on Wednesday, according to The Covid Tracking Project.
A national ensemble forecast issued on Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted a total of 332,000 to 362,000 Covid-19 deaths by January 2, 2021.
Aron Hall, an official from the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases, said on Thursday that the country's confirmed cases and deaths were actually many more than reported.
According to Hall, the total estimated number of infections is likely two to seven times greater than reported cases, based on seroprevalence surveys and models.
( With inputs from IANS )
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