The United States again passed a grim milestone Friday when the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 20 million nationwide, according to a count from Johns Hopkins University.
The numbers include more than 2.2 million cases in California, over 1.5 million in Texas, and 1.3 million in Florida, the three states with the highest number of infections.
Since January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was identified in the U.S., more than 346,000 people have died of the viral infection. The number represents the highest coronavirus-related death toll for a nation, and 19% of the 1.8 million deaths reported globally.
>> Related: Coronavirus vaccine: Where do you stand in line for a COVID-19 vaccine?
Officials in India have reported the second-highest number of infections and the third-highest number of deaths. As of Friday, more than 10.2 million coronavirus infections were reported across India, causing nearly 149,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
The third-highest number of COVID-19 cases was reported in Brazil, where 7.6 million have fallen ill. The country has the second-highest coronavirus-related death toll with nearly 195,000 killed by the virus.
Last month, regulators in the U.S. authorized emergency use of two COVID-19 vaccines, one developed by Moderna and the other developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Vaccinations have since begun at hospitals nationwide.
As of Wednesday, the last date for which data was available, nearly 2.8 million Americans have received the first of two doses of one of the COVID-19 vaccines. At least three other vaccine candidates are undergoing late-stage testing.
Cox Media Group
