US CDC projects nearly 90,000 new Covid-19 deaths in next three weeks

Nearly 90,000 people in the US may die from Covid-19 in the next three weeks, according to the latest projections of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Friday's CDC forecast predicts that 16,200 to 29,600 new deaths will likely be reported in the week ending February 6, Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 440,000 to 477,000 Covid-19 deaths will be reported by this date.

As of Saturday morning, the country, currently the worst-hit in the world, has recorded 23,520,563 confirmed Covid-19 and 391,922 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

States reported 23,259 Covid-19 deaths this week, 25 per cent more than in any other week since the pandemic began, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Arizona has the worst per-capita new case numbers in the world.

Meanwhile, more than 38,000 Americans died due to the disease in the first two weeks of the new year, said a CNN report.

According to the tracking project, in the first week of 2021, nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities reported 6,423 deaths among staff and residents and 67,271 new cases.

"This is the highest number of deaths and the second-highest weekly case number in our dataset," said a report of the tracking project.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 hospitalisations in the US has risen for 16 weeks, throughout the fall and then straight through the data disruptions around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day, said the tracking project.

Currently, nearly 129,000 people are hospitalised with the virus, according to the tracking project.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County, the most populous in the US, recorded nearly 2,000 Covid-19 deaths in one week as the disease is "running rampant".

It is estimated that more than 3 million residents in the county have been infected with the Covid-19, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The astonishing estimate, based on scientific modeling, means that one in three Los Angeles County residents have been infected with the coronavirus.

--IANS

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