The United States reported over 400,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day on Friday, setting a gloomy new world record as the country prepares for the distribution of a second COVID-19 vaccine.

A total of 403,359 new cases and 2,756 deaths were reported across the country, according to data updated Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new data brought the seven-day average daily case increase to a record-high of 238,923 cases, and the seven-day average daily death increase to over 2,500.

There are a record 114,751 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to latest data of The COVID Tracking Project.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a key COVID-19 model, projects the national daily death toll to continue increasing to a peak of over 3,750 in mid-January.

The United States has recorded nearly 17.6 million cases with over 315,300 related deaths as of Saturday afternoon, according to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.