US registers record-breaking 3,157 COVID-19 deaths in a single day

Washington: The United States has reported its highest single-day death toll due to COVID-19, with 3,157 deaths, that is 20 per cent more from than the previous record set on April 15. The previous record of daily COVID-19 deaths was 2,603 set on April 15. 

The record comes as the US suffers climbing cases and hospitalisations that mirror the devastation of the spring, but health experts warn that the situation will worsen in winter, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Over the course of the pandemic, 273,836 people in the country have died of the virus, while over 13.9 million have been infected, according to the latest data by Johns Hopkins University.

CNN reported that the spike in coronavirus deaths came on the same day the number of people hospitalized broke 100,000, according to the Covid Tracking Project. In a letter on Wednesday, the American Ambulance Association said the 911 emergency call system was at a `breaking point`.

Mayor Eric Garcetti warned in a news conference on Wednesday that if the coronavirus continues to spread at its current, unprecedented rate, Los Angeles will run out of hospital beds by Christmas, and called on residents to cancel everything to help stop the spread of the virus.

"The public health condition of our city is as dire as it was in March in the earliest days of this pandemic," he said, adding that the number of daily coronavirus infections in Los Angeles has tripled since early November.

Meanwhile, developments are moving quickly to provide citizens access to a COVID-19 vaccine. By February, 100 million Americans could be vaccinated against coronavirus, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, said Wednesday.

The United States has said if both Pfizer and Moderna win US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization in December, they could distribute 40 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the month, reported CNN.

Trials for younger children could start early next year, informed Dr Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health.