WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With 148143 new cases of coronavirus infections reporting in the United States on Wednesday, the national total has increased to 38,223,219, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
1456 additional casualties took the national COVID death toll to 632,272.
Texas reported the most number of cases - 23,412 - and most COVID-related deaths - 248.
California is the worst affected state in terms of both the COVID metrics, with 4,280,248 cases and a total of 65,396 people dying due to the disease there.
There is a significant rise in the number of people hospitalized due to coronavirus infection in the country. The number has risen to 95,240, marking 32 percent increase in a fortnight, according to data compiled by New York Times.
The death rate more than doubled in a fortnight.
A total of 30,678,283 people have so far recovered from the disease in the country.
As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 171,773,370 people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
This includes 81.3 percent of people above 65.
A total of 202,500,853 people, or 61 percent of the population, have received at least one dose. And 364,842,701 vaccine doses have been administered so far nationally.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin issued a memorandum directing mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for service members, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said.
Meanwhile, in a major development outside the United States related to COVID vaccine, Japan has reportedly suspended the use of more than 1.60 million doses of the Moderna vaccine suspecting contamination. Foreign materials were found in some doses of a batch of roughly 560,000 vials, according to the Japanese health ministry.
Takeda Pharmaceutical, the vaccine's distributor, said Moderna had put three batches on hold 'out of an abundance of caution.'
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