US COVID death toll, sped by Omicron, surpasses 900,000

Propelled by the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, the US COVID-19 death toll hit 900,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, less than two months after the country surpassed 800,000 fatalities. Friday’s sombre milestone comes 13 months into a US vaccination drive that has been beset by misinformation and political strife, though the jabs have proved safe and highly effective at preventing serious illness and death. “It is an astronomically high number,” said Dr Ashish K Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “If you had told most Americans two years ago as this pandemic was getting going that 900,000 Americans would die over the next few years, I think most people would not have believed it.”