US passes 800,000 dead from COVID-19

The United States, the country officially bereaved by the pandemic, passed 800,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University.

This number is greater than the population of entire US states, such as North Dakota or Alaska.

About 450,000 deaths occurred in 2021, although highly effective vaccines began to be licensed as of December 2020, and are widely available in spring 2021.

The United States is currently recording an average of 1,150 COVID-19 deaths per day, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

The vast majority of deaths are unvaccinated people.

About 72% of the US population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, fewer than many countries, including France.

Congressional leaders observed a minute of silence Tuesday evening in honor of the victims.

“We will remember that 800,000 loved ones didn’t make it this far: a lost father or grandfather, a mother or a grandmother, a friend, a familiar face in the neighborhood,” said Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. , in a press release. “We all know someone who has had this disease.”

This sad stage comes in the middle of the fifth wave of pollution in the United States, which, like the previous wave, has been linked to the delta formula.

But experts are now concerned about the Omicron variant, which is starting to spread in the country even if it accounts for only about 3% of new cases right now.

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that Omicron is spreading at an unprecedented rate on the planet.

The United States is the weightiest country in the world, according to official figures released by the authorities, ahead of Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia.

The pandemic has killed at least 5.3 million people worldwide since the end of 2019, according to an assessment prepared by AFP from official sources on Tuesday.

But according to the World Health Organization, the real losses can be two to three times higher.