The United States surpassed 18 million reported Covid-19 cases on Monday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, as the virus rises across the country.
The United States has the world’s highest absolute number of cases and the most deaths related to the virus, according to the figures.
It had a total of 18,006,061 reported cases on Monday night and more than 319,000 deaths.
The country began administering vaccines a week ago and has approved vaccinations developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
States and cities have imposed varying levels of restrictions in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, but outgoing President Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness and called for a resumption.
Trump’s behavior has come despite the fact that he himself has been in hospital with the virus.
Elected President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the Nov. 3 election, has been much more cautious and has called for masking and following rules for social distancing.
Earlier on Monday, Biden received a Covid-19 vaccine live on television in a campaign to increase Americans’ confidence in jabs.
(AFP)