The United States sets a new record amidst the COVID pandemic, crossing the 20 million mark for confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker.

The total number of cases is now nearly twice as many as the next worst pandemic hit counties, India and Brazil, which has more than 10.3 million cases and 7.7 million cases, respectively.

The virus has now killed more than 356,000 Americans, with Brazil ranking second globally, with over 195,000 deaths.

Over 125,370 COVID patients were hospitalized on Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. It took 292 days for the US to cross the first 10 million mark, and just 54 more days to double it, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, the US officials said that have distributed more than 12 million doses of COVID vaccines, and yet, only 2.8 million people have received the first of two doses, according to the CDC.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

A new strain of the coronavirus, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, has now emerged in a third state. Florida health officials announced a confirmed case of the new variant in Martin County in southeast Florida.

Florida health department tweeted that the patient is a man in his 20s with no history of travel, adding that it is working with the CDC to investigate the case. The cases of the new variant have also been confirmed in Colorado and California.

“Florida has evidence of the first identified case of the UK COVID-19 variant in Martin County,” Florida Health Department wrote on Twitter. “The individual is a male in his 20s with no history of travel. The Department is working with the CDC on this investigation. We encourage all to continue practicing COVID-19 mitigation.”

Experts believe that the new strain is more contagious. Prof. Axel Gandy of London’s Imperial College told BBC News, “There is a huge difference in how easily the variant virus spreads. This is the most serious change in the virus since the epidemic began.”