The death toll in the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic has surpassed the grim milestone of 400,000 with 3,417 new fatalities reported within the last 24 hours.

According to foreign media, the death toll from the virus in the U.S stands at 401,471 at present.

California alone is averaging 525 coronavirus deaths per day. In the last week, 3,675 people have died.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled $1.9 trillion plan for tackling the coronavirus pandemic and provide 100 million vaccines in 100 days. 

The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 2 million Friday as vaccines developed at breakneck speed are being rolled out around the world in an all-out campaign to vanquish the threat. 

The milestone was reached just over a year after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. 

The United Nations chief is urging the world to mark the “heart-wrenching milestone” of 2 million deaths from the coronavirus by acting with greater solidarity to ensure vaccines are available and affordable in all countries.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message Friday that governments have a responsibility to protect their people.

Mexico posted a record spike in coronavirus cases on Friday, with 21,366 newly confirmed infections, about double the daily rate of increase just a week ago. The country also recorded 1,106 more deaths.

It was unclear if the spike was due to the presence of the U.K. virus variant, of which only one case has so far been confirmed in a visiting British citizen.

The country has now seen almost 1.61 million total infections and has seen registered over 139,000 deaths so far in the pandemic.

-Agencies