More than 100,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19 since January 1 this year as the country is ramping up vaccine rollout, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data.

The US has more COVID-19 deaths than any other country in the world. The country has recorded nearly 26.9 million cases with over 461,700 related deaths as of Saturday afternoon, according to the real-time count kept by JHU. An influential coronavirus model has predicted an estimated 631,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by June 1.

According to the latest forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, the result depends on the vaccine rollout and the spread of variants. A worst-case scenario could see the death toll go as high as 703,000. Increasing mask use from current levels of 77 per cent to 95 per cent can save 44,000 lives by June 1, according to the model. The national ensemble forecast of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely decrease over the next 4 weeks, with 11,300 to 22,600 new deaths likely reported in the week ending February 27.

Source: XINHUANET