Grim milestone US hits 20 million coronavirus cases with 346,000 Covid-19 deaths

The US has continued to surpass other countries in Covid-19 cases as it reached 20 million at the start of the new year, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.

America exceeded the mark on Friday, less than a week after the country reached 19 million cases.

Covid-19 deaths have also increased in the country, now totalling more than 346,000.

The US accounts for about 4% of the world’s population, but the country has eclipsed other nations in coronavirus cases by more than nine million and Covid-19 deaths by over 151,000.

India and Brazil trail behind the US in coronavirus cases at more than 10 million and seven million, respectively.

The increase comes as officials race to vaccinate millions of Americans but have got off to a slow and messy start.

President-elect Joe Biden has criticised the Trump administration for the pace of distributing Covid-19 vaccines and vowed to ramp up the current speed of vaccinations.

However, Mr Biden acknowledged that it “will still take months to have the majority of Americans vaccinated”.

Globally, more than 83 million cases have been confirmed.

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Press Association