The coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone in the United States on Friday with the country’s cumulative death toll from the virus surpassing 900,000.
The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 US fatalities due to the virus since December 12, coinciding with a surge of infections and hospitalizations driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
Preliminary evidence has shown that Omicron, while far more infectious, generally causes less severe illness than earlier iterations of the virus, such as Delta. But the sheer volume of Omicron cases fueled a surge in hospitalizations that has strained many US healthcare systems to their limits in recent weeks.
Experts have said the bulk of Omicron patients requiring hospitalization were unvaccinated individuals and people with other underlying chronic health conditions.
That 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.
Current US COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 117,000 compared with a peak of nearly 153,000 on January 20.
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