Photo: A resident wearing mask is seen in a metro station in Washington D.C., the United States, March 31, 2020. /Xinhua

The United States recorded 1,169 COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the Johns Hopkins University tracker showed Thursday, the highest one-day death toll recorded in any country since the global pandemic began.

The toll reflected figures reported by the university between 8:30 pm Wednesday (0030 GMT) and the same time Thursday. 

The grim record was previously held by Italy, where 969 people died on March 27.

The US has now recorded 5,926 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.