WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States hit a new record for coronavirus cases on Friday (Jan 8), notching nearly 290,000 in a span of 24 hours, according to a real-time tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded 3,676 virus deaths in the same day, the Baltimore-based university said.

The day before, the US had recorded a high of nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours.

Some 131,000 people are currently hospitalised in the US for Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

The world's largest economy has recorded 21.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 368,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The country, where health restrictions vary drastically between localities, is ultimately counting on a massive vaccination campaign begun in mid-December to bring the health crisis to an end.

But the effort is running behind, with just under six million people having received the first of two injections in the country of 330 million.