Refrigerated trailers storing bodies of COVID-19 victims are seen at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on Dec. 3, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

The past four days saw the U.S. daily deaths skyrocket beyond 2,500. On Thursday, a total of 2,879 deaths were added, the worst single-day loss of lives since the pandemic began.

U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 280,000 on Saturday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national caseload topping 14.4 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 280,090 as of 2:27 p.m. local time (1927 GMT), according to the CSSE data.

New York State reported 34,853 fatalities, at the top of the U.S. state-level death toll list. Texas recorded the second most deaths, standing at 22,825. The states of California, Florida and New Jersey all confirmed more than 17,000 deaths, the CSSE tally showed.

States with more than 10,000 fatalities also include Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan.

The United States remains the nation hit the worst by the pandemic, with the world's highest caseload and death toll, accounting for more than 18 percent of the global deaths.

Healthcare workers wheel a patient outside Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on Dec. 3, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

The cumulative COVID-19 deaths in the United States surpassed 270,000 on Dec. 1. The past four days saw the U.S. daily deaths skyrocket beyond 2,500. On Thursday, a total of 2,879 deaths were added, the worst single-day loss of lives since the pandemic began, the CSSE data showed.

Meanwhile, U.S. hospitalizations hit a record high of 101,276, according to a daily upgrade published by The COVID Tracking Project on Friday.

In addition, the United States confirmed 227,885 new cases on Friday, the highest daily increase in new cases the country has ever witnessed since the onset of the pandemic.

An updated model forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a total of 538,893 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by April 1, 2021, based on current projection scenario.