US President Joe Biden on Thursday called the death of 1 million people in the US due to Covid-19 a “tragic milestone” and urged Americans to “remain vigilant” amid to the ongoing pandemic.
In a statement, Biden acknowledged the impact of the losses on the families left behind and urged the country not to “be numb to such grief”, noting that “a nation has changed forever”.
The United States on Wednesday recorded more than 1 million deaths from Covid-19, according to a Reuters tally, crossing an unthinkable eleven-year milestone about two years after the first cases ended everyday life. .
The loss represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
Biden ordered the flags to be flown at half-mast, said the White House, which will also host a second global Covid Summit on Thursday.
The Democratic president has asked Congress to fund billions of dollars more in aid fighting the virus as new variants emerge. This week, he decoupled the request for aid to face the pandemic and the one for aid to Ukraine, which should be approved in the coming days.
“We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible, as we have done with more tests, vaccines and treatments than ever before,” Biden said. “It is critical that Congress sustain these resources in the coming months,” she added.
US lawmakers reached a $10 billion settlement, but the additional tranche of funding was delayed due to various concerns.
Researchers are working on yet another booster dose of Covid vaccines as the virus continues to mutate, and health experts say greater pandemic investment is needed now to prevent future outbreaks of the disease.
Still, the precise numbers of the pandemic may never really be known. Some people who died while infected were never tested and are not represented in the data. Others, despite having contracted the virus, may have died from another reason, such as cancer, but were still counted.
Source: CNN Brasil
