COVID cases fall below 10,000 for the first time in more than A YEAR, which officials credit to the

The United States recorded its lowest daily totals of coronavirus cases and deaths in more than a year as officials continue to encourage the public to get vaccinated.

On Sunday, the country reported 6,725 new infections, which is the lowest single-day number since March 21, 2020, a DailyMail.com analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

It also marks the first time that the daily number of cases has fallen below 10,000 in more than a year, the analysis found.

The U.S. recorded 124 new coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, the lowest figure since 119 fatalities were reported on March 24, 2020.

It comes as 20 U.S. states, and the District of Columbia, have administered at least one coronavirus vaccine dose to two-thirds of their adult populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

F9 2021

F9 2021

F9 2021

F9 2021

F9 2021

Twelve of those states – Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia – are in the Northeast.

Just two – Illinois and Minnesota – are in the Midwest and six – California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington – are in the west.

Vermont currently leads the pack with 81.7 percent of residents receiving at least one dose, according to CDC data.

This will help meet President Joe Biden’s goal of 70 percent of Americans receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine by July 4.

Despite the promising numbers Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, says it is too soon for the country to declare victory against COVID-19.

 
‘We don’t want to declare victory prematurely because we still have a ways to go, but the more and more people that can get vaccinated, as a community, the community will be safer and safer.” he told The Guardian.

According to CDC data, 62.6 percent of all American adults have received at least an initial dose of the inoculation and 49.6 percent are fully vaccinated.

What’s more, 50.5 percent of the U.S. population, including children 12 and older, have been given at least one dose and 40.7 percent have completed their vaccine series.

To incentivize more residents to get vaccinated, some governors have announced lotteries with large cash prizes.

On Thursday, California revealed it will be offering the country’s largest pot of vaccine prize money – $116.5 million – including $1.5 million each for 10 residents.

 
Additionally, the first two winners of the lottery in Ohio – which was the first state to launch any incentivization campaign – were recently unveiled with a 22-year-old winning the initial $1 million prize and a 14-year-old winning a full-ride scholarship to college.

With millions of people traveling for Memorial Day weekend and meeting friends and family for picnics or barbeques, health experts warn there is still a significant portion of the population that is unvaccinated and at risk.

‘As long as there is some degree of activity throughout the world, there’s always a danger of variants emerging and diminishing somewhat the effectiveness of our vaccines,’ Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) told The Guardian.

‘We cannot abandon public health measures when you still have a degree of viral activity in the broad community in the United States. Although we’re down to less than 30,000 infections per day that’s still a lot of infections per day.’

Dr Leana Wen, an emergency physician, told CNN that Americans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 ‘should feel very well protected.’

 
But she says inoculated people still need to follow precautions, including wearing masks and social distancing.

‘Those who remain at risk are those who are unvaccinated, and that includes children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated as well as adults who just have not been vaccinated yet,’ she said.

‘And so those people who are unvaccinated are now still at high risk because we do have more transmissible variants, and unfortunately those individuals who don’t have immunity are not protected from these variants that can wreak a lot of havoc.’

eanwhile, cases are holding steady or declining in all but three states, California, Missouri and Washington, according to Johns Hopkins data.

On Sunday, California’s seven-day rolling average hit 2,026 new cases per day, a 71 percent increase from 1,179 recorded on May 19.

 
According to state health officials, the surge is being drive by a rise in case in the northern part of California.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Shasta County – 200 miles north of Sacramento – is seeing 9.1 new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 3.7 percent, while the statewide rate is at 0.9 percent.

Comparatively, Los Angeles County is reporting a daily rate of 1.8 new cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 0.4 percent.

‘Right now, Shasta County is a red tier county in a sea of orange and yellow counties,’ Kerri Schuette, program manager of the county’s public health department, told the Chronicle. ‘We still have a very high case rate.’