Washington/LONDON: The death toll from the spread of the coronavirus in the United States exceeded 200,000 on Tuesday, by the far the highest number of any nation.

The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a tally. That is down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15.

During the early months of the pandemic, 200,000 deaths was regarded by many as the maximum number of lives likely to be lost in the United States to the virus.

“The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering and in some respects stunning,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, told CNN.

Fauci said that it was not inevitable that the United States will fall into another dire situation with coronavirus cases surging during cold weather months, but that he was worried about parts of the country where public health measures were not being implemented.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump said he had done a phenomenal job on the pandemic that has infected nearly 6.9 million Americans.

“It affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing,” Trump told supporters at a Swanton, Ohio, campaign rally on Monday night. “It affects... elderly people with heart problems and other problems — if they have other problems that’s what it really affects, that’s it.” Trump has admitted to playing down the danger of the coronavirus early on because he did not want to “create a panic.” With barely six weeks left before the election on Nov 3, Trump is behind Democratic rival Joe Biden nationally in every major opinion poll and is neck and neck in key swing states. Trump’s handling of the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn has battered his standing among many voters.

Trump has frequently questioned the advice of scientific experts on everything from the timing of a vaccine to reopening schools and businesses to wearing a mask. He has refused to support a national mask mandate and held large political rallies where few wore masks.

US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield recently told Congress that a face mask would provide more guaranteed protection than a vaccine, which would only be broadly available by “late second quarter, third quarter 2021.” Trump refuted the timeline for the vaccine and said that it may be available in a matter of weeks and ahead of the Nov 3 election.

Britain to impose new curbs

The British government announced fresh steps on Tuesday to try and stop a coronavirus surge in England, as the World Health Organisation warned that new cases worldwide soared to almost two million last week in a grim new record.

The pandemic is showing no signs of abating — more than 31.3 million infections have been detected globally, with 965,000 deaths — and nations are scrambling to contain new outbreaks. The World Health Organisation said 1,998,897 new Covid-19 cases were registered around the world last week — a six-percent increase over a week earlier.

It was “the highest number of reported cases in a single week since the beginning of the epidemic,” the UN health agency said. However the number of deaths declined by 10 percent over the previous week to 37,700.

The ramped-up response in Britain follows warnings that the country could see up to 50,000 cases a day by mid-October, and a month later exceed 200 deaths every day.

Britain also put on hold plans to allow the phased return of fans to sporting venues in England from October 1.

France and Spain are battling similar surges. Spain’s health minister on Tuesday called on Madrid residents to limit their movements and social contacts to the “essential”.

Under new rules to come into force on Thursday, English pubs, bars and other hospitality venues will be required to close at 10 pm. Food and drink outlets will also be restricted to table service only.

Many nations in Europe were easing restrictions after largely overcoming initial outbreaks, but the resurgence of the virus has forced them to tighten curbs again.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2020