A glimmer of hope? Seven-day averages for COVID cases are declining and hospitalizations start to drop - but the US has only administered 12 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine despite 32 million shots being shipped to states

There may be a glimmer of hope in America's ongoing battle against the coronavirus pandemic with the 7-day averages declining in all four regions. 

Cases have dropped most significantly in the Midwest, with the region reporting the lowest number of infections in proportion to their population. 

Data obtained by The COVID-19 Tracking Project shows that the west of the country is still reporting the highest number of cases, with an outsize number of those coming from California and, in particular, Los Angeles County. 

Meanwhile, it appears coronavirus hospitalizations are also slowly declining overall, although several areas are still overwhelmed by incoming patients. 

In Los Angeles, intensive care units are still at capacity and some hospitals have started erecting emergency tents in their parking lots in order to treat those seeking care. 

Despite the decline in cases, 243,996 new infections were reported in the US on Friday. 

A staggering 127, 235 Americans are still in the hospital fighting the virus. 

There may be a glimmer of hope in America's ongoing battle against the coronavirus pandemic with the 7-day averages declining in all four regions. 

According to The COVID-19 Tracking Project, the 7-day averages for cases are declining in all four regions

It appears coronavirus hospitalizations are also slowly declining overall, although several areas are still overwhelmed by incoming patients

The United States also reported 3,679 new deaths in the 24 hours to Friday evening, taking the total number of fatalities to 391,955.  

According to modelling done by the University of Washington, an additional 170,000 Americans are likely to die from the coronavirus by the end of April. 

This would take the total above 565,000 deaths, according to CNN.  

There are also fears for that the highly-contagious UK strain of the coronavirus, dubbed 'Super COVID' is spreading rapidly through America. 

While Super COVID is not thought to be more deadly that other variants of the virus, the first American citizen succumbed to the strain in Houston over the weekend.  

And on Friday, health officials in Utah revealed that their first case of strain has been confirmed in a man who had not traveled out of the state.  

Super COVID has been detected in New York, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia and Texas. 

Now, a total of 96 Americans have tested positive to the strain.  

On Friday, the CDC reported that just 12 million doses have been administered to Americans across the country. However, cities such as Los Angeles are now opening large scale vaccination sites. Pictured: motorists lining up to receive their shot at Dodger Stadium 

That makes the need to distribute the vaccines all the more pressing - but the roll-out continues to lag, 

On Friday, the CDC reported that just 12 million doses have been administered to Americans across the country. 

This is despite the fact that 31 million doses of vaccine have been shipped out to states. 

President-elect Biden has pledged to accelerate the vaccine roll-out by setting up better communication between state and federal governments. 

'Under President-elect Biden's plan, the federal government will provide regular projections of the allocations states and localities will receive,' a statement from Biden's transition team, obtained by CNN, read. 

'The federal government will build on the operational plans in place to ensure the effective distribution, storage, and transit of vaccines to states, including support for maintaining or augmenting the vaccine-specific required cold chain.' 

Meanwhile, Rick Bright, a member of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told the news network: 'We want to open the floodgates on vaccination and make sure everyone who wants to get vaccinated can do so as quickly as possible.

'It's going to take a lot of effort, a lot of hard work, and we're going to do as much as we can as fast as we can.'