US may be in early stages of fourth wave of Covid-19, reports say
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The US has tallied, on average, 63,000 new cases daily over the past week–an increase of 17 per cent from the week prior, according to one of the many reports
The US could be in the early stages of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with coronavirus cases increasing in as many as 25 states, according to reports.
On an average, the US has tallied 63,000 new cases per day over the past week, an 17 per cent rise from the previous week, one of the reports said.
Only five states have recently seen declines in new cases.
The third wave of the pandemic, which peaked in January, saw about 250,000 people daily testing positive for Covid-19.
The threat of a fourth wave comes as many states have loosened restrictions -- disregarding public health officials’ many warnings that doing so was premature. This wave will almost certainly be far less deadly than the previous three, reports have added.
US President Joe Biden, to this end, has implored regional officials to keep or reinstate wearing of face masks in their mandates.
“I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor, and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate,” the president said on Thursday. “Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down.”
Ever since he assumed office, Biden has been working towards strengthening the country's economy, which had got battered due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, apart from enforcing restrictions to curb the spread of the virus -- something his predecessor, Donald Trump, always ran away from.
The US House of Representatives gave in March a final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill that gives Biden his first major victory in office.
The economic stimulus measure -- one of the largest in American history -- provides $400 billion for $1,400 direct payments to most Americans, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, an expansion of the child tax credit and increased funding for vaccine distribution. Forecasters expect it to supercharge the US economic recovery.