Washington, Jan 14 (IANS): Currently the hardest hit country in the world by the pandemic, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US has surpassed the 23 million mark, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country's current caseload and death toll stood at 23,067,796 and 384,604, respectively.

The US remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up more than 24 per cent of the global caseload and over 19 per cent of the worldwide fatalities.

California reported 2,821,512 cases, followed by Texas with 2,032,809 cases and Florida with 1,517,472 cases.

The two states of New York and Illinois have registered more than 1 million cases.

Other states with over 600,000 cases include Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona, North Carolina and New Jersey, the CSSE data showed.

The total number of confirmed cases reached 20 million on January 1, and the figure since then has increased by 1 million every four days.

According to the CSSE chart, 4,462 deaths associated with Covid-19 were reported nationwide on Tuesday, the highest single-day fatality spike since the onset of the pandemic early last year.

A national ensemble forecast updated on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted a total of 440,000 to 477,000 coronavirus deaths in the US by February 6.