US surpasses 17m coronavirus cases as vaccines are distributed

US confirmed 247,403 new cases on Wednesday and 3,656 Americans died of the coronavirus in a single day

The United States on Thursday surpassed a total of 17m coronavirus cases, with infections rising by more than a million a week during the early winter surge - while at the start of the year it took three months for the US to accumulate its first million cases.

Nearly a quarter million new coronavirus infections and more than 3,600 deaths had been reported just on Wednesday, shattering previous records as the national vaccination campaign against Covid-19 began rolling out across the country this week.