Omicron ups US Covid death toll to 9 lakh in 2 months

Even though the brutal wave is rapidly easing its grip, and new cases of Covid-19 in the US are falling in 49 of the 50 states, death toll has hit 9, 00,000

Propelled in part by the wildly contagious Omicron variant, the US death toll from Covid-19 hit 9,00,000 in less than two months. The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte, North Carolina. The milestone comes more than 13 months into a vaccination drive that has been beset by misinformation and political and legal strife, though the shots have proved safe and highly effective at preventing serious illness and death.

“If you had told most Americans two years ago as this pandemic was getting going that 900,000 Americans would die over the next few years, I think most people would not have believed it,” said Dr Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. He lamented that most of the deaths happened after the vaccine gained authorisation. “We got the medical science right. We failed on the social science. We failed on how to help people get vaccinated, to combat disinformation, to not politicise this,” Jha said.

President Joe Biden urged Americans to get vaccinations and booster shots. “Around 250 million Americans have stepped up to protect themselves, their families, and their communities by getting at least one shot—and we have saved more than one million American lives as a result,” Biden said. Just 64 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, or about 212 million Americans, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Nor is Covid-19 finished with the United States, Jha said the US could reach 1 million deaths by April.

45 new Covid positive cases at the Olympics

A total of 45 new positive tests for Covid-19 have been announced by organisers of the Beijing Olympics. Athletes and officials account for 25 of the cases, with 20 detected in people arriving at the airport in Beijing and five more in daily PCR tests taken by everyone at the games. The 20 other cases involved people working at the games, including media, with six at the airport and 14 inside the Olympic bubbles. 

Austria implements Covid vax mandates

Starting Saturday, Austria became the first European Union country to introduce such a sweeping mandate. It will apply to all adults in the country except pregnant women and those with medical exemptions.

39,25,11,006
Total number of cases worldwide as of Saturday

57,46,964
Total no. of deaths worldwide

31,11,00,846
Patients recovered worldwide as of Saturday

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