Deaths from COVID-19 in the US have soared to more than 2200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
Virtually every state is reporting surges just as a vaccine appears days away from getting the go-ahead in the US.
“The epidemic in the US is punishing. It’s widespread. It’s quite frankly shocking to see one to two persons a minute die in the US — a country with a wonderful, strong health system, amazing technological capacities,” said Dr Michael Ryan, the World Health Organisation’s chief of emergencies.
The virus is blamed for more than 280,000 deaths and almost 15 million confirmed infections in the United States.
