US Covid toll crosses 9,00,000; UK's pandemic modellers warn of future large waves | Top points
India Today
The death toll in the US due to Covid-19 has crossed 900,000. The highly infectious Omicron variant continues to drive the surge in cases across the world. Tonga, one of few Pacific countries untouched by the virus over the past 2 years, is now dealing with its first virus outbreak.
The cumulative death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 900,000 in the United States on Friday, with the tally driven by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The tally is the highest number of Covid-19 deaths reported by any nation, followed by Russia, Brazil and India with more than 1.8 million deaths combined.
According to the data collected by Reuters, Omicron may have hit the US harder than other countries with younger overall populations, such as in Africa.
Nevertheless, the death rate appears to be slowing in the US as the Omicron surge wanes, Reuters reported. The seven-day average fell for two days in a row to 2,592, compared with a peak average of 2,674 during the current wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, US health officials said that they are considering lengthening the recommended interval between the first two doses of Covid-19 vaccines to eight weeks in order to lower the risk of heart inflammation and improve their effectiveness.
At present, the recommended interval between the first two shots of Pfizer's vaccine is three weeks and for Moderna's is four weeks in the United States.
The UK epidemiologists who model the Covid-19 pandemic to inform government advice have cautioned that there is a realistic possibility of large waves of infection in the future in Britain.
The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O) said that the emergence of new variants of coronavirus was the biggest unknown factor in the medium-to-long term, along with waning population immunity and changes in mixing patterns.
