The number of deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. has surpassed a quarter of a million, according to data logged on worldometer.info.
Despite the news of vaccine development raising the hope of billions around the world, the death rate in the U.S. has been accelerating in recent weeks as cases surge across the country.
In the last four weeks, there has been a 42 per cent increase in fatalities, rising from a weekly average of 821 per day in early October to last week’s average of 1,167 per day, according to an NBC News analysis of data.
In addition to the deaths, the U.S. leads the world with 11.8 million Covid-19 infections, the worldometer.info data shows.
The grim numbers were piling up as President Donald Trump continues to balk at conceding the November 3 election to President-elect Joe Biden.
President Trump is facing criticisms for refusing to permit potentially life-saving transition talks between health officials and President-elect Biden’s team, which health experts say could further aggravate the situation.
Mr Trump was defeated by Mr Biden at the polls but has refused to concede defeat, citing electoral irregularities. Some analysts interviewed by CNN Wednesday night said the president is obsessed with returning to office for a second-term at the cost of American lives.
The pandemic which is showing no sign of slowing down as the holiday season looms, has infected over 56 million people around the world claiming over 1.3 million lives.
Though still months away from widespread distribution, two vaccine candidates have recorded high degrees of success at clinical trials. This has raised hopes that a cure for the deadly virus is near.
Monday’s announcement that a vaccine developed by Moderna is demonstrating about 95 per cent success rate in early clinical trials is the second such positive vaccine news in about a week.
The first was from the vaccine developed by Pfizer which was said to have recorded 94.5 per cent success at clinical trials.
This Post: Covid 19: U.S. death toll surpasses 250,000 as infections continue to surge was approved and published by Ancity Media Editor and may not be republished elsewhere without prior written permission from the Editor.
