US surpasses more than 40 million COVID-19 cases as Delta variant continues to spread

• The US has recorded more than 40 million COVID-119 cases and at least 649,000 virus-related deaths.
• The staggering data comes as the US grapples with a surge in cases fueled by the Delta variant.
• The country logged more than 4 million cases and 32,000 new virus deaths in the last month alone.

The United States has hit yet another grim milestone in its battle against the coronavirus with more than 40 million recorded COVID-19 cases.

As of Tuesday morning, the nation had logged a total of 40,019,441 confirmed coronavirus cases, as well as 649,168 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The staggering data comes as the US grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The country recorded more than 4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 32,000 new virus deaths last month alone, data shows.

According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national seven-day average of coronavirus cases was at about 150,000 cases per day, while the seven-day average of new COVID-19 hospitalizations was at roughly 12,000 a day.

The US ​​seven-day average of daily COVID-19 deaths was more than 1,100 per day, the data shows.

Meanwhile, as of Tuesday morning, 62.3% of the US population had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 53% of the country has been fully inoculated against the coronavirus, according to the CDC.