US Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations drop, deaths still spike

Washington, Feb 1 Amid a slow and uneven rollout of vaccines against the coronavirus in the US and increasing concerns about new variants, key indicators have revealed an easing of the pandemic across the country, according to a weekly report of The Covid-19 Tracking Project.

For a second week in a row, new cases and hospitalisations have dropped nationally, 14 per cent for cases and 12 per cent for hospitalisations, Xinhua news agency quoted the report issued on Sunday as saying.

However, cases and hospitalisations remain much higher than at any point before the fall and winter surge, according to The Covid-19 Tracking Project.

Currently the country is averaging over 153,000 single-day cases and more than 3,200 daily deaths, according to data by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On January 30, the country logged a total of 97,561 Covid-19 hospitalisations, the first time below 100,000 since December 1, 2020, according to the tracking project.

Tests have also declined for about 3 per cent, which may mean that more cases are being missed.

But last week, Covid-19 deaths rose 7 per cent, with states reporting a total of 22,797 fatalities, the tracking project revealed.

Deaths lag behind cases. Even with cases falling across the country, there may be another week or more of very high death numbers to come, according to the project.

Nationwide, new cases among white and African-Americans were down more than 10 per cent compared to the previous week, and among Latino people over 20 per cent, the second week in a row with fewer new cases for all three groups.

In California, the most populous state in the US, Covid-19 deaths surged at record pace as cases decline.

An average of 544 people died every day the last week, and on January 30 the state reached the grim milestone of 40,000 fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The vaccine rollout in the US has drawn great public attention since it started on December 14, 2020.

Health experts and officials have blamed states for slow vaccine rollout.

About 29.6 million doses have been administered as of January 30, according to CDC data.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the Johns Hopkins University revealed that the country's overall caseload and death toll stood at 26,183,912 and 441,319, respectively.

( With inputs from IANS )