The United States Centres for Disease Control, on Thursday released an MMWR report that provides provisional data on mortality in the United States in 2020.
According to it, with approximately 378,000 fatalities, COVID-19 ranked as the third leading cause of underlying deaths after heart disease and cancer.
In 2020, about 3.3 million people died in the country, marking a 16 per cent increase in deaths from 2019, the report shows.
On Wednesday, 68,162 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States, taking the national total to 30,460,344.
This is higher than the seven-day average of 64, 396.
Also, 1,138 new deaths were reported in the country on the same day, which was higher than the weekly average of 938.
California and Texas, the two worst affected states, together accounted for 263 deaths, while in most cases 7,683 were reported in New York.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent data show a 12 per cent increase in seven day average of new cases from the seven day period prior.
Hospitalisations also continue to increase, the most recent seven-day average was about 4,900 admissions per day was up from 4,600 admissions per day in the prior seven-day period.
Giving an update on the federal vaccination rollout, White House Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response Andy Slavitt said that three more mass vaccination sites would open next week.
They are in Memphis, Tennessee, at the Pipkin Building at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium; in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Wisconsin Centre and in Greenbelt, Maryland, at the Greenbelt Metro Station.
In total, 25 mass vaccination sites had been opened, with a combined capacity to administer more than 95,000 shots per day.