US Covid-19 caseload passes 25 million mark
More than 25 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the US since the pandemic began, Johns Hopkins University says.
More than 25 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the US since the pandemic began, Johns Hopkins University said on Sunday (Monday AEDT), just days after Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The milestone was reached only five days after the US, the world’s wealthiest and hardest-hit nation, recorded 400,000 deaths from the disease.
Mr Biden has made fighting the coronavirus a priority and is pushing for Congress to approve a $1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) relief package that would include billions to boost vaccination rates.
The President has said he wants 100 million people vaccinated within his first 100 days in office, and he has called for Americans to wear masks for 100 days.
Vivek Murthy, Mr Biden’s nominee for surgeon-general, told America’s ABC that 100 million doses in 100 days was “a floor, not a ceiling” and cautioned about new variations.
“The variants are very concerning,” Dr Murthy said. “It’s up to us to adapt and stay ahead.”
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Mr Biden’s administration would “take responsibility” for the trajectory.
Former president Donald Trump came under frequent criticism for perceived federal inaction in combating the virus.
“We’re going to set up these federal vaccination centres to make sure that in states that don’t have enough … we fill those gaps,” Mr Klain told NBC.
“We need more vaccine, we need more vaccinators and we need more vaccine sites.”
The US caseload remains by far the world’s highest in absolute terms.
After the first COVID-19 case was reported in the US in January 2020 it took until late April for the figure to pass one million. The overall number of cases has followed an almost exponential curve upwards since then.
Xavier Becerra, Biden’s secretary of health and human services nominee, likened the COVID-19 trajectory under Mr Trump to a plane about to crash.
“We’ve got to pull it up and you aren’t going to do that overnight, but we’ll pull it up — we have to pull it up,” he told CNN.
“Failure is not an option here.”
The US has now recorded 25,003,695 cases, though with testing shaky at the start of the pandemic, the real toll is believed to be much higher.
AFP
Charles leads remembrance for war dead with William and Catherine
King Charles has led Britain in two minutes of silence at a Remembrance Day service attended by Princess of Wales, who like the King has been treated for cancer.
Netanyahu, Trump ‘see eye-to-eye on Iranian threat’
Benjamin Netanyahu says he and Donald Trump have held three ‘important’ conversations since the US election and they are agreed on the ‘Iranian threat’