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United States Covid-19 hospitalisations top 100,000, hospitals stretched beyond limit

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Dec 03, 2020, 07:51 AM IST
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File photo Photograph:(Reuters)

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According to the health experts, the number will continue to climb, as Thanksgiving gatherings and holidays are expected to accelerate an already rampant spread of the virus this fall. 

Covid-19 hospitalizations in the US reached a record 100,000 on Wednesday, straining health-care systems in numerous states. Hospitalisations have set new records almost daily since November 10 in the nation's largest and longest surge.

Also read | Vaccines insufficient to prevent surge in coronavirus for next six months: WHO

According to the health experts, the number will continue to climb, as Thanksgiving gatherings and holidays are expected to accelerate an already rampant spread of the virus this fall. 

"There are 100,226 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US — the first time hospitalizations have exceeded 100k," the COVID Tracking Project said in a tweet.

The current number of hospitalized patients underscores the scope and severity of the current phase of the U.S. outbreak. Never before had the number of hospitalized Covid patients surpassed 60,000, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, which is run by journalists at The Atlantic.

Meanwhile, US officials have said that they expect to have enough vaccine doses to immunize about 100 million higher-risk people by the end of February.

But the World Health Organization does not believe there will be enough quantities of coronavirus vaccines in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections, its top emergency expert said.

"We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months," Mike Ryan told a social media event, calling on people to maintain social distancing and respect other measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 49 "candidate vaccines" at the stage of clinical trials in humans by mid-November, up from 11 in mid-June.

WHO had received data from Pfizer and BioNTech on the COVID-19 vaccine and was reviewing it for "possible listing for emergency use", a benchmark for countries to authorise national use.

(With inputs from agencies)