U.S. COVID-19 deaths top 800,000

Special: Battle Against Novel Coronavirus

The United States reached the grim milestone of 800,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

With the national case count topping 50.2 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 800,266 as of 6:22 p.m. local time (2322 GMT), according to the tally.

California led the country in COVID-19 deaths, with 75,411 fatalities. Texas reported the second-highest fatalities of 74,707, followed by Florida with 62,073 deaths and New York with 58,287 deaths, the data showed.

States with more than 25,000 fatalities also include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan.

The United States remains the country worst hit by the pandemic with the world's highest caseload and death toll, accounting for more than 18 percent of the global cases and more than 15 percent of global deaths.

The U.S. COVID-19 deaths hit half a million on Feb. 22, topped 600,000 on June 15, and reached 700,000 on Oct. 1. It took 113 days for the national death toll to climb from 500,000 to 600,000, 108 days to jump from 600,000 to 700,000 and 74 days to soar from 700,000 to 800,000.