Washington, Dec 28 (IANS): The US, currently the hardest-hit country in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, has reached yet another grim milestone as its overall caseload has surpassed the 19 million mark, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country's infection tally and the death toll currently stood at 19,129,368 and 333,110, respectively.

With the world's highest cases and deaths, the US now makes up more than 23 per cent of the global caseload.

With the most cases, 2,123,163, California became the first US state to surpass the 2 million caseload mark.

Texas reported 1,668,263 cases, followed by Florida with 1,264,588 cases.

The states of Illinois and New York both registered more than 900,000 cases.

Other states with over 500,000 cases include Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin, the CSSE data showed.

Currently, there are more than 117,300 people hospitalized with Covid-19.

Based on current projection scenario, an updated model forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a total of 567,195 Covid-19 deaths in the US by April 1, 2021.

In its latest update on Sunday, The Covid Tracking Project said the US witnessed more Covid-19 deaths in December than in any other month since the onset of the pandemic.

"December is already the deadliest month since the beginning of the pandemic in the US," the project said.

Meanwhile, Christmas and New Year's holiday reporting gaps and backlogs may obscure the realities of the country's outbreaks, and public health experts have warned of another wave of cases, deaths and hospitalisations if the general public do not strictly follow social distancing and other control measures.