US averaging 1 lakh new Covid-19 cases daily due to Delta variant

Tunisian medics administer the Johnson and Johnson vaccine at a walk-in centre near the capital Tunis on Sunday. Pic/AFP

The Covid-19 outbreak in the United States crossed 100,000 new confirmed daily infections Saturday, a milestone last exceeded during the winter surge and driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant and low vaccination rates in the south.

Health officials fear that cases, hospitalisations and deaths will continue to soar if more Americans don't embrace the vaccine. Nationwide, 50% of residents are fully vaccinated and more than 70% of adults have received at least one dose.

"Our models show that if we don't (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said on CNN this week. It took the US about nine months to cross 1,00,000 average daily cases in November before peaking at about 2,50,000 in early January. Cases bottomed out in June, averaging about 11,000 per day, but six weeks later the number is 1,07,143.

Hospitalisations and deaths are also increasing, though all are below peaks seen early this year before vaccines became widely available. More than 44,000 Americans are currently hospitalised with Covid-19, according to the CDC, up 30 per cent in a week and nearly four times the number in June.

The situation is particularly dire in the South, which has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the US. Agencies

UK eases travel curbs for India

The UK on Sunday eased travel restrictions for India by moving the country from its "red" to "amber" list, which means fully vaccinated Indian passengers will no longer be subjected to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine on their arrival in Britain. However, only travellers vaccinated in the UK or Europe would qualify for an exemption of the home quarantine requirement.

6,35,150
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

20,24,44,628
Total no. of cases worldwide

42,90,636
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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