WASHINGTON, March 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — For the first time since Oct 18, the number of new coronavirus cases in the United States came down below 50,000.
With 48,092 new cases reported, the total number of infections in the country rose to 28,664,463, as per the COVID Tracking Project’s latest update.
The seven-day average for coronavirus cases in California, the worst-affected US state, is down 89 per cent since the peak on Jan 13.
In the same period, 1,241 more people died due to the pandemic, taking the total death toll in the US to 514,657.
The US collaborative volunteer-run effort to track the pandemic, refuted CDC Director’s comments that Covid-19 deaths in the United States are rising.
“There is no evidence that current deaths are increasing. Reported deaths also are not increasing,” one of the COVID Tracking Project’s volunteers wrote on Twitter.
Hospitalizations and ICU numbers have been on consistent decline for nearly seven weeks straight now, and the test positivity rate has dropped week-over-week for 50 days in a row.
A total of 46,738 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalized in the country. Out of this, 9,595 patients are admitted in ICU.
The seven-day average for Covid-19 testing is increasing after a sharp dip in February. Around 1.22 million people were tested, and 4.42 per cent of them were diagnosed with the disease.
The single-shot coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, the third Covid-19 shot authorized for use in the US, were being administered from Tuesday.
Twitter has warned that it will permanently ban users who continue to post misleading information about coronavirus vaccines.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the United States is at risk of losing all the gains made recently in the battle against the pandemic, as more states are rolling back the public health measures that CDC recommended to protect people from Covid-19, and the newly emerged coronavirus variants spreading across the country. — NNN-AGENCIES
