U.S. reaches 500,000 coronavirus deaths

The number of dead rivals the population of Atlanta or Sacramento, California.

The U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic topped 500,000 on Sunday, according to an NBC News tally.

The coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 2,462,000 people worldwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The death toll in the U.S. is the highest in the world, even though the country has less than 5 percent of the global population.

More than 28,206,600 cases have been confirmed in the U.S., according to the NBC News tally. California, the country’s most populous state, has been hit especially hard: 3,527,641 confirmed cases and 49,110 deaths as of Sunday.

The average number of daily new cases has declined in recent days, however. The number fell below 100,000 on Feb. 12 for the first time in months.