Covid-19 death toll hits 600,000 in US

The US has hit another grim Covid-19 milestone, with the number of people killed by the virus now equal to cancer deaths.

The US has hit another Covid-19 death milestone. Picture: Joseph Prezioso/AFP

America has hit another grim Covid-19 milestone, with the number of people killed by the virus now roughly equal to annual deaths from cancer.

The US death toll from the virus topped 600,000 on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University, despite the daily death rate plummeting following the arrival of vaccines in December – from a high of more than 3400 in January to around 340.

Globally, the death toll from the virus now stands at about 3.8 million.

The Associated Press reported that the latest milestone – which is around the same number of Americans who died of cancer in 2019 – came the same day as California and New York lifted most of their remaining restrictions.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement at a campaign rally-style event after the state cleared the threshold of at 70 per cent of adults receiving at least one vaccine dose.

“What does 70 per cent mean? That means that we can now return to life as we know it,” Mr Cuomo said on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

“All the state-mandated restrictions are lifted on commercial social settings, sports and recreation construction, manufacturing, retail buildings, all across the board we can get back to living and businesses can open, because the state mandates are gone, social gathering restrictions, capacity restrictions, the health screenings, [and] the cleaning and disinfecting protocols.”

Globally the death toll stands at around 3.8 million. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

He continued: “We’re no longer just surviving. Life is about thriving. Life is about seeing people, life is about loving, life is about celebrating, life is about enjoying, life is about interacting. And now we get back to living life.”

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 175 million Americans, or 52.6 per cent of the population, have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 43.9 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

Among adults, 65 per cent have had at least one dose.

But the AP notes that demand for vaccines has dropped off sharply, leaving many areas with surplus doses – raising doubts about whether US President Joe Biden’s target of having 70 per cent of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4 will be met.

Mr Biden spoke about the upcoming death toll milestone at a press conference in Brussels on Monday, during his trip to Europe for the G7 meeting.

“The number of cases and deaths are dropping dramatically, but there’s still too many lives being lost,” he said.

“That’s why I continue to say to America, if you have not been vaccinated, get vaccinated. Get vaccinated as soon as possible. We have plenty of vaccinations, plenty of sites. We have more work to do to beat this virus, and now’s not the time to let our guard down. So please, please get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

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