Coronavirus: Joe Biden to get vaccine as US deaths hit record
- Tally marks third time in past week that the US has crossed the 3,000 deaths threshold
- Mike Pence and Joe Biden to get vaccine within days to build public confidence in shot
The United States set a grim double record Wednesday notching more than 3,700 deaths and more than 250,000 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
At least 307,000 Americans have died of the disease and almost 17 million have been infected – roughly 5 per cent of the population.
The country has seen a spectacular spike in Covid infections for more than a month now, with some 113,000 people currently hospitalised due to the virus, also a new record, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The tally marks the third time in the past week that the United States has crossed the 3,000 deaths threshold. The previous 24-hour record was set in late April at the height of the country’s first wave - which never totally ended.
Over the last two weeks, the number of new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours has climbed above 200,000 for 11 out of 14 days.
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First Covid-19 vaccine administered as US death toll passes 300,000
Wednesday’s exact death toll was 3,784 fatalities over the previous 24 hours leading up to 8:30pm.