Nearing 600,000 COVID deaths, US continues vaccination push

US President Joe Biden set a goal to administer at least one vaccine shot to 70 percent of Americans by July 4.

Across the United States, governments are loosening social distancing rules and relaxing mask mandates, and businesses are fully reopening amid a steady decline in COVID-19 cases and sustained progress in the nation’s vaccination campaign. But the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more lives in the US than in any other country in the world. And on Monday, the US appeared set to reach yet another grim new milestone, as the death toll approached 600,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. President Joe Biden said Monday that despite a nationwide drop in cases and hospitalisations, the disease “is still a real tragedy” and is claiming an average of 370 people a day.