US deaths from Covid-19 topped 3,000 for a third straight day on Friday, with a record number of new infections.
The United States shipped out nearly six million doses of a new vaccine after its authorization on Friday, reports Reuters.
The United States reported a record 254,686 new cases on Friday, raising the cumulative number above 17 million since the coronavirus pandemic began nearly a year ago.
The US death toll now exceeds 323,404 on Saturday.
On Saturday, 2,559 new deaths were recorded and on Friday, another 2,794 deaths were recorded.
As per the data and the daily tally, the projected deaths could cross 400,000 in another month, by the time Biden takes oath of office.
Health experts have warned of a deepening crisis this winter as intensive care units (ICUs) fill up and hospital beds spill over into hallways. US hospitalizations have set a new record on each of the past 20 days, approaching 114,000 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally.
"We expect to have more dead bodies than we have spaces for them," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told a briefing on Thursday, saying the country's second-largest city had fully exhausted its ICU capacity.
To help slow the pandemic, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency approval of Moderna Inc's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, a week after authorizing the first vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had told CNBC on Thursday that 5.9 million Moderna vaccine doses had been allotted for state governments and were ready for distribution nationwide starting this weekend.
Both vaccines require two doses, given three or four weeks apart, for each person inoculated.
Health authorities have sought to reassure Americans that large-scale clinical trials and scientific review found the vaccines to be safe and effective.
Vice President Mike Pence will receive the coronavirus vaccine in public on Friday, becoming the highest-profile recipient to date to receive the vaccine.
While departing President Donald Trump has yet to embrace messages about social distancing and mask-wearing, he has encouraged people to get vaccinated.
President-elect Joe Biden, set to take office on January 20, will publicly get the vaccine today, according to transition officials.
