New York, Dec 6 (IANS): US COVID-19 deaths surpassed 280,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national caseload topping 14.4 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 280,090 on Saturday, according to the CSSE data, Xinhua news agency reported.

New York State reported 34,853 fatalities, at the top of the U.S. state-level death toll list. Texas recorded the second most deaths, standing at 22,825. The states of California, Florida and New Jersey all confirmed more than 17,000 deaths, the CSSE tally showed.

States with more than 10,000 fatalities also include Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan.

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

The cumulative COVID-19 deaths in the United States surpassed 270,000 on December 1. The past four days saw the US daily deaths skyrocket beyond 2,500. On Thursday, a total of 2,879 deaths were added, the worst single-day loss of lives since the pandemic began, the CSSE data showed.

Meanwhile, US hospitalizations hit a record high of 101,276, according to a daily upgrade published by The COVID Tracking Project on Friday.

In addition, the United States confirmed 227,885 new cases on Friday, the highest daily increase in new cases the country has ever witnessed since the onset of the pandemic.

An updated model forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a total of 538,893 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by April 1, 2021, based on current projection scenario.