NEW YORK, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 270,000 on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national caseload topping 13.6 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 270,003 as of 5:26 p.m. local time (2226 GMT), according to the CSSE data.

New York State reported 34,618 fatalities, at the top of the U.S. state-level death toll list. Texas recorded the second most deaths, standing at 21,946. The states of California, Florida and New Jersey all confirmed more than 17,000 deaths, the tally showed.

States with more than 10,000 fatalities also include Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

The United States remains the nation hit the worst by the pandemic, with the world's highest caseload and death toll, accounting for more than 18 percent of global deaths.

An updated model forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a total of 470,974 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by March 1, 2021, based on current projection scenario.

U.S. Hospitalizations hit a record high of 96,039, according to a daily upgrade published by The COVID Tracking Project on Nov. 30.

The project noted on its Twitter account that hospitalizations doubled since Nov. 1 and tripled since Oct. 1 in the United States and 100,000 hospitalizations may be around the corner in the next couple of days.

Experts warned the U.S. daily COVID deaths will even surge to a higher level in December, as the country is estimated to witness a new wave of infections in coming weeks, following nationwide travel and gathering during the Thanksgiving holiday.