US Reaches 25 million COVID-19 cases in 1 Year [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A record high of over 25 million coronavirus cases has been recorded in the US, the country with the most number of cases worldwide.
• Over 20 million Americans have been already vaccinated.
• The COVID-19 death toll has reached more than 400,000.

The US has hit an alarming milestone of recording more than 25 million coronavirus cases, the highest in any country across the globe.

Following the US, India and Brazil have the second and third highest cases with more than 10 million and 8.8 million respectively, based on the John Hopkins University database.

About one of every 13 people has contracted COVID-19 in the US or about 7.6 percent of the country’s total population, the Times reported.

In an interview with the newspaper, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers said that “25 million cases is an incredible scale of tragedy.”

The magnanimous tally came after the first case of coronavirus was tracked on January 21 last year. A man from Seattle, Washington, who came from Wuhan, China, was the first patient in the country.

Over time, cases continued to pile up as more people come to the US from China. In Europe, Italy was badly hit as the outbreak swiftly spread over the country.

As recalled, the US reached one million cases by April 28, 2020. After six months and statewide lockdowns were being lifted, cases soared to over two million. By the end of November, cases have more than doubled with over 4.3 million infections. Then in December and January, cases have exponentially climbed as the nation yielded daily record highs of new cases.

And now, a faster-spreading COVID-19 variant known as Strain B.1.1.7 that came from the United Kingdom has already reached the US. The strain is 50 percent more contagious than the initial COVID-19 mutations.

The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) has reported over 195 present cases of B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in the US. The agency anticipates that the said train would be the thriving COVID-19 variant by March.

The Food and Drug Administration has already given emergency use authorization for two COVID-19 vaccines: one developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, and the other vaccine by Moderna.

Pfizer said that its vaccine would still be potent in fighting the B.1.1.7 variant.

As of Sunday morning, 20,537,9900 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, per the CDC. The count still lagged behind twice the amount of available vaccines that have been already distributed, a total of 41,411,550. Both vaccines are needed to be given in two doses, with a one-month interval before receiving the second dose that would solidify the vaccine’s efficacy for up to 95 percent.

Per the New York Times’ COVID-19 tracking, the nation has lost over 417,390 lives due to the virus as of Sunday morning.

Source: PEOPLE