Published February 11, 2021 • Updated on February 11, 2021 at 9:51 pm NBCUniversal Media, LLC Efforts to immunize as many people as possible are underway in most states, and many key indicators show signs of improvement since the deadly winter surge, however deaths continue to mount across the country. California edged past New York with the most death from the coronavirus. California’s death toll reached 45,496, surpassing New York’s toll of 45,312 on Thursday. Elsewhere, the variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in the U.K., and has since been identified in over 50 countries, could become the dominant form of the virus worldwide, according to the head of the U.K.’s genetic surveillance program.