13th December, 2020
More than 16 million people have been confirmed to have caught the coronavirus in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In absolute terms, that is the highest covid-19 caseload of any country worldwide.
The number of new infections confirmed over a 24-hour period stood at 219,510, bringing the total to 16,067,031, the university said on Sunday.
On Saturday, 2,368 people died after contracting the virus, following a record high the previous day of over 3,300 deaths.
In total, 297,837 people are known to have died after contracting covid-19 in the US.
The US is preparing to kick off the largest vaccination programme in its history in the coming days, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
First in line to get the shots are health-care workers and nursing home residents. Most people are not expected to get inoculated until spring or summer, health authorities say.
U.S is in the midst of a massive surge in cases, with dwindling hospital bed availability across the country.