U.S. surpasses 300,000 coronavirus deaths

The United States on Monday surpassed 300,000 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University reveals.

The U.S. is the first country in the world to cross the grim threshold since the pandemic began earlier this year — indeed, no other country has yet recorded 200,000 deaths.

More than 16.3 million Americans have contracted the virus, and cases continue to rise in the winter months as several cities and states contemplate enhancing lockdown measures to curb the spread.

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The sobering news comes the same day as one of the brightest moments of the pandemic: when the first health care workers in the U.S. received their initial dose of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which received an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration last week.