US deaths from COVID-19 surpass 700,000

Grim milestone reached as tens of millions refuse to get vaccinated even though the jabs are widely available.

The United States has surpassed 700,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, remaining the world’s worst affected country with about 15 percent of worldwide fatalities.

The grim toll – roughly equivalent to the population of the nation’s capital, Washington, DC – was reached late on Friday with an average of well over 1,000 people dying each day in a country where 55.7 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The last 100,000 deaths occurred during a time when vaccines, which overwhelmingly prevent deaths, hospitalisations and serious illness, were available to any American over the age of 12.