Infections in the country also continue to climb. The number of people diagnosed with coronavirus since late January is now 18.7 million.
The country has an average rate of more than 1000 daily Covid deaths and reached 100,000 deaths on May 23, according to data from John Hopkins University.
Mortician assistant Ruby Johnson prepare a funeral service for a man who died of Covid-19 at Ray Williams Funeral Home on August 12, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. Photo / Getty Images
Four months later, on September 21, the country had lost 200,000 Americans to the virus.
Deaths began accelerating in November and the country reached 300,000 Covid deaths in just 11 weeks.
With Christmas and New Year celebrations, the country is bracing for another surge in the next few weeks.
Worldwide, the number of Covid-19 cases has topped 80 million.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University reported the mark on Saturday morning (US time) after 472,000 cases were recorded on Christmas Day. The number of deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic across the globe stands at 1.75 million.
Medical staff wearing full PPE wrap a deceased patient with bed sheets and a body bag in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Centre in Texas. Photo / Getty Images
The US is by far the leader among nations in cases of coronavirus illness, reporting nearly 18.8 million on Saturday. India follows with 10.2 million cases; Brazil has counted 7.45 million. There have been more than 330,000 deaths in the US, 190,000 in Brazil and 147,000 in India.
There have likely been many more cases of the coronavirus that have not been counted for a variety of reasons, including under-reporting, asymptomatic infections and lack of cooperation with contact tracers.
