U.S. COVID-19 case tally tops 40 million, and hospitalizations over Labor Day holiday were more than double last year’s

The global tally of confirmed cases of the coronavirus-borne illness COVID-19 climbed above 221 million on Tuesday, with the U.S. now accounting for more than 40 million, as the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread through the unvaccinated population.

The U.S. continues to lead the world by cases and fatalities and is averaging more than 1,500 deaths a day for the first time since March, according to a New York Times tracker. The seven-day average of new cases stood at 132,135 on Sunday, the tracker shows, while hospitalizations were averaging 101,747,...