The United States hit yet another grim milestone on Monday when cumulative deaths attributed to the coronavirus surpassed 675,000.
According to The Associated Press, the latest figures mean that about as many Americans have died from COVID-19 as the 1918-19 Spanish influenza pandemic.
By Monday night, the nationwide COVID-19 death toll stood at 676,059, or roughly 14% of the nearly 4.7 million reported globally to date, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
By comparison, the 1918-19 influenza pandemic killed 50 million victims globally at a time when the world had one-quarter the population it does now, the AP reported.
Meanwhile, the 44,898 U.S. virus-related deaths reported in the past 28 days account for more than 17% of the nearly 260,000 global COVID-19 deaths reported during the same four-week period, Johns Hopkins data indicated.
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While the delta-fueled surge in infections may have peaked, U.S. deaths are running at over 1,900 a day on average, the highest level since early March, the AP reported.
During the nation’s winter peak, the U.S. averaged 1 million new cases every four days, and the current infection rate is approaching that same pace. Meanwhile, the rate of virus-related fatalities dropped off substantially immediately following the February rollout of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide, but the death toll appears on track to reach 700,000 about four months after reaching 600,000, mirroring the four months it took for virus-related fatalities to increase from 500,000 to 600,000, according to Johns Hopkins data.
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-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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