New York, Nov 18, 2020, SPA -- The United States has recorded its highest daily coronavirus-related death toll since May, as the pandemic rages across the country and strains health care systems, dpa reported. Data released by Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday showed that there were 1,707 fatalities a day earlier, as the overall US death toll from the outbreak nears 250,000. The US has seen far more deaths and cases than any other nation, logging 11.3 million infections since the start of the pandemic. The US reported some 161,900 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, according to the Baltimore-based university, marking at least two weeks of daily infections exceeding 100,000. Public officials are begging people not to gather for Thanksgiving, a major US holiday, next week. In promising news, two US vaccine efforts have so far yielded positive results, with pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer announcing on Wednesday that its Covid-19 vaccine is 95-per-cent effective. Vaccine doses are not expected to be widely available until several months into 2021. --SPA 20:32 LOCAL TIME 17:32 GMT 0018 www.spa.gov.sa/w1452870