The United States has seen an average of 1 death related to COVID-19 every 33 seconds over the past week, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

There were 18,462 deaths reported over the past week – from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 – an average of more than 2,600 deaths per day.

December was the country's deadliest month of the pandemic: 77,572 deaths total, or just more than 2,500 deaths per day on average.

In comparison, the month of November saw about 36,964 deaths; April saw 60,738; May saw 41,703.

(with input from agencies)