The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 500,000, underscoring the pandemic’s devastation as officials race to roll out vaccinations as quickly as possible to prevent another surge.
The solemn milestone comes nearly a year after the first fatality from the virus was recorded in the country. The US death toll of 500,071 is by far the highest in the world in absolute terms, and almost double the 246,504 deaths in the country with the second-highest number of fatalities, Brazil, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
After an initial wave last spring that hammered the north-east, followed by a summer surge in sunbelt states, coronavirus cases and hospitalisations experienced their most severe increase after Thanksgiving, which lasted through the holiday season and into January.