COVID-19 death toll in United States approaches 500,000 mark

Fauci spoke as the us stands on the verge of a milestone few imagined when the first coronavirus cases were diagnosed a year ago: 500,000 deaths. "It really is a bad situation that we've been through - and that we're still going through", Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House COVID-19 medical adviser and the nation's top infectious disease official, told CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

The US virus death toll reached 400,000 on January 19 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis was judged by public health experts to be a singular failure.

"The number was 6 million doses delayed", Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC's "Meet the Press", one of three interviews he did on Sunday talk shows.

The first known deaths from the virus in the USA happened in early February 2020, both of them in Santa Clara County, California.

At the same time, the New York Times reported that the U.S.is likely to hit half a million deaths due to coronavirus in the next few days.

At the current pace it would take an estimated nine months to cover 75% of Americans with a two-dose vaccine.

Biden will use "his own voice and platform to take a moment to remember the people whose lives have been lost, the families who are still suffering.at what is still a very hard moment in this country", White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.

More than 28 million Americans have fallen ill with coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2o20, and almost half a million people have died as a result.

While the now available vaccines appear protective against the United Kingdom variant that has appeared across the country, they are less protective against the South African one, which so far is not dominant, he said. "It's like you still have to get up every morning". You have to take care of your kids and make a living. There is no way around it. He also suffered from respiratory issues and died on February 8.

Despite the rise of COVID-19 variants and the fear they will cancel out progress made against the pandemic, virus cases, deaths and hospitalizations are on the decline. "My whole world is turned upside-down".

While touring Pfizer's vaccine plant Friday, President Joe Biden shared his goal of when he would like to see life return to normal. Globally, the figure was approaching 2.5 million.

Despite efforts to administer coronavirus vaccines, a widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the United States death toll will surpass 589,000 by June 1.

In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Dr Fauci said it was too soon to pinpoint when the U.S. might reach herd immunity.