Coronavirus deaths in the United States exceed 900.000, driven by an increase in Omicron.
According to data, the coronavirus pandemic reached a new bleak stage in the United States on Friday as the country's cumulative death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 900.000, even as the daily death toll began to stabilize.
The tally represents the latest increase of more than 100.000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States since December 12, coinciding with the rise in infections and hospitalizations due to the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
Preliminary evidence showed that Omicron, while much more contagious, generally causes less severe disease than previous iterations of the virus, such as Delta. But the sheer volume of Omicron's cases has led to a surge in hospitalizations that has stretched many US health care systems to their limits in recent weeks.
Experts said most of the O'Micron patients who need hospitalization are non-immunized individuals and people with other chronic health conditions.
The data also suggests that Omicron may have hit the United States harder than other countries with younger populations in general, such as in Africa.
According to a Reuters tally of state-reported data, the total number of American lives lost to COVID-19 since the first cases were discovered in the United States in early 2020 was at least 904.228, more than the total population of South Dakota.
About 250 million Americans have received at least one shot, he said in a statement, "and we have saved more than a million Americans as a result."
However, the death rate from COVID-19 in the United States appears to be slowing as the Omicron wave recedes, Reuters figures show. The seven-day average has fallen two days in a row to 2.592, compared to the peak average of 2.674 in the current wave of infections.
Some public health officials said that as the Omicron outbreak subsides and the number of hospitalizations declines, the epidemic may enter a new phase in the United States and elsewhere.
In Iowa, for example, the governor announced Friday that the public health disaster declaration, and the particular safety measures accompanying it, will expire on February 15.
"Flu and other infectious diseases are part of our daily lives, and the coronavirus can be treated similarly," Governor Kim Reynolds wrote on Twitter.
Nationally, the average confirmed COVID-19 cases are now 354.000 per day, down from a peak of nearly 806.000 infections per day on January 15. Officials say it has been detected by home test kits and has not been reported to public health authorities.
Over the last week, the states reporting the newest per capita were Alaska, Kentucky, Washington State, South Carolina, and North Dakota.
The number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States on Thursday was 117.000 compared to a peak of about 153.000 on January 20.
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