World total cumulative Covid-19 cases stand at 83.89 million at 1 a.m. GMT, January 2 Total global number of deaths stands at 1,825,810, data from John Hopkins University show WASHINGTON: The United States marked the New Year on Friday by passing the extraordinary milestone of 20 million Covid-19 cases as a more infectious variant surfaced in Colorado, California and Florida. The US has floundered in its efforts to quell the virus, which is spreading rapidly across the country and has already caused over 346,000 deaths — by far the highest national death toll. Officials sought to speed up vaccinations and a more infectious variant surfaces in Colorado, California and Florida. Worldwide hopes that Covid-19 vaccines will bring a rapid end to the pandemic in 2021 have been shaken by the slow start to the US vaccination program, which has been beset by logistical problems and overstretched hospitals. Nearly 2.8 million people in the US have already received their first jabs, but the figure fell well behind the 20 million inoculations that President Donald Trump’s administration promised by the end of 2020. Help from combat medics sought To slow the death toll, Senator Mitt Romney on Friday urged the US government to enlist veterinarians and combat medics to give out coronavirus vaccinations. The US rate of new COVID-19 infections increased in the second half of last year. An analysis of Reuters data shows it took 200 days to reach the first 5 million cases, 93 days to go from 5 million cases to 10 million, 31 days from 10 million to 15 million cases and only 25 days to go from 15 million to 20 million cases. California has the most total cases of any state, with about 2.28 million infections followed by Texas with 1.76 million cases and Florida with 1.32 million cases. The United States is averaging 186,000 cases a day, down from a peak in mid-December of over 218,000 new infections each day. Health officials have warned that cases will likely spike again after holiday gatherings. Currently, there are more than 125,000 COVID-19 patients in US hospitals, up 25% in the last month. Troubled rollout While the US has approved two vaccines, rollout is going more slowly than the government hoped. About 2.8 million Americans received a COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 31, falling far short of a 20 million target. According to Johns Hopkins University, the US hit a record number of daily deaths on Wednesday when more than 3,900 people died of Covid-19. President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, has criticized the troubled vaccine rollout, and implored Americans to wear masks. Under Trump, US authorities have given often mixed messages on mask-wearing, social distancing and shutdowns, and the outgoing president has repeatedly downplayed the risks. But in his New Year’s Eve message, Trump hailed his administration’s response, saying “our most vulnerable citizens are already receiving the vaccine, and millions of doses are quickly being shipped all across our country.” Despite early setbacks in the vaccine rollout, leading US infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that he expects Americans to achieve enough collective COVID-19 immunity through vaccinations by autumn 2021. The government’s goal is 100 million shots in arms by March 1. Desperate race The desperate race to vaccinate is set to dominate the coming year, with the coronavirus already killing at least 1.8 million people since emerging in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. German firm BioNTech said Friday it was racing to ramp up production of its Covid-19 jab to fill a shortage left by the lack of other approved vaccines in Europe. Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier, and have since also greenlighted jabs by US firm Moderna or Oxford-AstraZeneca. “The current situation is not rosy, there’s a hole because there’s an absence of other approved vaccines and we have to fill this gap,” BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin told Der Spiegel weekly. Criticism of the slow pace of the vaccine rollout has grown louder in recent days. In Germany, senior doctors have complained that hospital staff are left waiting for vaccines despite being in a priority group. France has seen similar complaints, prompting the government to announce that health workers aged over 50 could get the shot from Monday — sooner than originally planned. The French government on Friday announced that a nationwide nighttime curfew would be lengthened in 15 regions where infections are high. The curfew will begin at 6:00 p.m. rather than 8:00 pm, including in the Mediterranean city of Nice. “The virus is continuing to spread... but with a disparity between regions,” said a French government spokesman, confirming that theaters, cinemas and concert halls would not be able to reopen on January 7, the most recent earliest date given. Also in France, some 2,500 partygoers attended an illegal New Year rave near Rennes, clashing with police who tried to stop it, authorities said. But worldwide, normally extravagant midnight celebrations in cities such as Sydney, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Edinburgh were scaled back or canceled, and crowds banned from attending. Rio saw one upside: 89 percent less garbage on Copacabana beach, which is left clogged with trash each year after its New Year party. “We were ready for any scenario. But congratulations to the people of Rio, who listened to the authorities’ calls to avoid large crowds and stay home,” said municipal sanitation chief Flavio Lopes.