US Covid caseload tops 60 million

Washington, Jan 10 (IANS) As the world is battling another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic fuelled by the new Omicron variant, the US, currently the worst-hit country, has registered more than 60 million cases as of Monday, making up for about 20 per cent of the global infection tally, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country's overall caseload and the death toll stood at 60,072,321 and 837,594, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 516,880,436.

The US' Covid-19 fatalities, also the highest in the world, makies up for more than 15 per cent of the global death toll.

The country's infection tally had reached 10 million on November 9, 2020, crossed 20 million on January 1, 2021, exceeded 30 million on March 24, surpassed 40 million on September 6, and amounted to 50 million on December 13.

Monday's grim milestone comes as the US is now averaging more than 700,000 new coronavirus cases per day, according to the Johns Hopkins University.