For the first third of the 2021 fiscal year, the national deficit jumped to $736 billion as coronavirus spending took its toll on the federal government, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

The large sum is roughly 89% higher than the same four-month period in 2020, representing the time before COVID-19 reached the United States. January 2021 added roughly $163 billion to the deficit, the majority of which came from Social Security, health expenditures, and income security payments.