Washington, Dec 6 (IANS): The US recorded over 214,000 new coronavirus cases in a span of 24 hours, pushing the seven-day average daily increase to an all-time high of nearly 180,000 infections.

In its latest update on Sunday, the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country's overall caseload and death toll stood at 14,575,623 and 281,134, respectively.

The two tallies are the highest in the world, making the US the worst-hit country.

A total of 214,099 cases and 2,439 deaths were reported across the nation on Friday, according to data updated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It is the second consecutive day that the single-day count in the country surpassed 200,000, also the 27th consecutive day that the daily case increase exceeded 100,000.

Friday's new infections drove the seven-day average daily case count to a record high of 179,410 cases, and average death count to 1,981 cases, the highest since late April.

There are 101,190 people currently hospitalised with Covid-19 in the US, according to the latest data of the Covid Tracking Project.

Data shows the Thanksgiving data backlogs coming in for tests, cases, and deaths.

Hospitalisations have gone up by almost 12 per cent since November 28.

"We should still assume that many of these very high case and death numbers are because of the holiday effect," the tracking project tweeted.

Some areas of the country will likely again need temporary "drastic" and "draconian" measures -- such as shutdowns or the suspension of elective procedures -- to protect the nation's health care system as Covid-19 continues to spread, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Public health officials urged people to stay at home as much as possible and wear a face mask when out in public.

Residents are also required to keep gatherings small, short and outdoors, and to limit them to those who live in their household.