The first-ever novel coronavirus infection in the United States was confirmed almost eleven months ago but the pneumonia-like illness causing virus is still devastating several states of the country.

The viral disease remains a tremendous challenge for the incumbent US government and the incoming Biden administration, as it is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon but instead mutating continuously.

• In the last 24 hours, 200,109 Americans were tested positive for the flu bug.

To date, over 18 million Americans have contracted the novel coronavirus infection.

In the US, the states of California, Texas, and Florida are most adversely affected by this lethal disease. All three states have reported over 1 million cases so far. The exact figures are as follows:

 S#)Name of State---Total Cases  1)  California  ---  1,931,301    2)  Texas  ---  1,614,482      3)  Florida  ---  1,212,581   

The US alone has reported an astonishing 23% of the global coronavirus cases. Also, 19% of the global coronavirus-related casualties have been Americans.

The latest COVID-19 statistics of the United States as provided by the website "Worldometers" are as follows:

Total Cases: 18,473,716
New Cases (Last 24 hours): 200,109

Total Deaths: 326,772
New Deaths (Last 24 hours): 1,841

Total Recovered: 10,802,496

Active Cases: 7,344,448

Critical Cases: 28,069