Coronavirus: Joe Biden issues dire warning for US as 2,731 die on worst day of pandemic
- US President-elect Joe Biden warns of another ‘250,000 people dead between now and January’
- The death toll is rising as hospitalisations in the US surpassed 100,000 for the first time
US President-elect Joe Biden has issued a dire warning about the spread of the coronavirus over the next two months, predicting another 250,000 deaths.
White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci will meet with members of Biden’s team on Thursday after President Donald Trump’s administration delayed the transition process for weeks amid a coronavirus surge. Fauci has already met with incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
The warning came on Wednesday when at least 2,731 people died from Covid-19 in the United States, making it the deadliest date for America since the pandemic started.
Before Wednesday, the deadliest day of the pandemic was April 15, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The now-third-worst day was Tuesday.
A record 100,226 Americans were hospitalised on Wednesday, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, the latest in a weeks-long streak of record-setting daily figures.
That day, the US also reported almost 200,000 new coronavirus cases. The US high for recorded cases in a day came last Friday, with more than 205,000 infections.