The United States on Monday surpassed 300,000 deaths from COVID-19, AFP reported, citing the Johns Hopkins University tally.

The country has recorded more than 16.3 million COVID-19 cases.

Over the last two weeks, the Johns Hopkins database has often registered more than 2,500 deaths from COVID-19 every day, hitting over 3,000 on both Wednesday and Saturday.

The grim milestone was reached on the same day that New York nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first person in America to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, live on television.

An initial 2.9 million vaccine doses are set to be delivered to 636 sites around the US by Wednesday, with officials saying 20 million Americans could receive the two-shot regimen by the end of the year, and 100 million by March.

The vaccines began two days after a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel recommended the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine emergency use authorization, following a recommendation from its own vaccine advisers.