The United States has reached a sobering milestone to mark the new year.
On Friday, the first day of 2021, the U.S. recorded its 20 millionth confirmed coronavirus case since the beginning of the pandemic.
That's according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University, . Over 83 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed world wide.
The U.S. reached . In less than two months, the country doubled its total number of infections.
The nation accounts for nearly a quarter of all infections in the world and a fifth of all deaths.
And a coronavirus variant � one believed to be more contagious but not more deadly � was .
Two vaccines have been approved by the FDA and are now being distributed in the U.S. � granting a glimmer of hope in the battle against the virus. Both vaccines � one by Pfizer-BioNtech and one by Moderna � demonstrate high efficacy rates.
However, the country. Almost 2.8 million Americans have received the vaccine, according to the .
At the current rate it would take years to vaccinate enough Americans to get the pandemic under control, according to .
President-elect Joe Biden vowed the U.S. would pick up the pace during a speech detailing his COVID-19 response plans.
"We need to be honest: The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, a very tough period for our nation � maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic," Biden said Tuesday. "I know it's hard to hear, but it's the truth."
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