The line for Coronavirus vaccinations in Fort Myers, Florida, December 30, 2020 (Reuters)
UPDATE, JAN 5:
The US death toll reached 353,621 on Monday, an increase of 2,041 in 24 hours.
Confirmed cases are 20,823,345, with 184,128 on Monday. Hospitalizations are at a record 128,310, with 23,435 patients in intensive care.
UPDATE, JAN 4:
The Government’s top Coronavirus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has knocked back Donald Trump’s dismissal of rising deaths and cases.
Without naming Trump, Fauci said in a Sunday TV interview, “Go into the trenches. Go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths.”
He continued, “We’re not where we want to be. We’ve got to do much better, but let’s give it about a week or two into January to see if we can pick up momentum that was slowed down by the holiday season.”
The Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, also rejected Trump’s false claim that death toll is “far exaggerated” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I have no reason to doubt those numbers, and I think people need to be very aware that it’s not just about the deaths, as we talked about earlier.
It’s about the hospitalisations, the capacity, these cases are having an impact in an array of ways, and people need to understand that there’s a finish line in sight but we’ve got to keep running towards it.
The US death toll is now 351,580. There are 20,639,217 confirmed cases.
UPDATE, 1545 GMT:
Donald Trump has dismissed the latest figures on Coronavirus deaths and cases, using a racial phrase for the virus and deriding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of @CDCgov’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low. “When in doubt, call it Covid.” Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2021
In a follow-up tweet, Trump sneered that the Government’s top Coronavirus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is being “given…credit for my work”.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: US deaths from Coronavirus passed 350,000 on Saturday.
The toll reached 350,214, an increase of 2,426 in 24 hours. Confirmed cases are 20,430,488.
Almost 300,000 cases were recorded Saturday. The figure was a record for the pandemic, but was inflated because of delays in reporting over the holidays.
Hospitalizations have fallen slightly to 123,614.
It is hoped that vaccine distribution will begin to limit the “surge upon a surge”. However, delays in inoculations are reported across the US.
The Government had set a target of 20 million vaccinations by the end of 2020, but as of December 30, there were less than 2.9 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
