More than 400,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the United States, according to the benchmark report from Johns Hopkins University published on Tuesday, January 19, on the eve of the inauguration of Joe Biden, who fought against the pandemic one of his priorities at the start of his mandate.

The threshold of 300,000 deaths was exceeded only about a month ago, in mid-December.

The United States is, according to official reports, by far the most bereaved nation in absolute terms, but some other countries have more deaths in proportion to their population, such as Italy, the United Kingdom or Belgium

The first death from Covid-19 in the United States was announced at the end of February.

After a first wave in spring, which never really fell and concentrated around New York, then a rebound this summer especially in the south of the country, the world's leading power has been facing since the fall of an outbreak of the epidemic throughout its territory. , which she cannot control.

About one in two Americans believe the virus is currently totally out of control, according to a Washington Post-NBC poll released Tuesday.

Some 120,000 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project, which analyzes data from across the country on a daily basis.

The hope of the vaccine

In total, more than 24 million people have contracted the virus on American soil.

But the real toll is underestimated due to the lack of testing at the start of the pandemic. 

Americans are clinging to the vaccination campaign launched in mid-December, which will not be able to stem the current outbreak of the epidemic for months.

>> To read: United States: "Operation Warp Speed", a very political vaccination campaign

Just over 3% of the population, or some 10.6 million people, have so far received one of the two vaccines authorized in the United States (those from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna), of which 1, 6 million people have had the two required injections. 

Joe Biden has said he wants to speed things up, promising 100 million doses injected during his first 100 days in office.

To do this, it intends in particular to push for the creation of new local vaccination centers in gymnasiums, stadiums or schools, and to mobilize some 100,000 additional caregivers.

With AFP

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