The death toll in mid-December just a month and a half ago had jumped to 800,000
WASHINGTON: The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in the US crossed 900,000 on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
Just a month and a half earlier, in mid-December, 800,000 people had died of this number.
New cases linked to the Omicron variant are falling, but daily deaths are still rising, according to government data, which now averages 2,400.
"Hospitalization has expanded our healthcare capacity and workforce to their limits in some areas of the country," said Rochelle Valensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID deaths usually occur weeks after patients have contracted the virus, which explains why the spike in deaths occurs later than the spike in new cases.
"Today, our country marks another tragic milestone - 900,000 American people have been lost to COVID-19," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "We pray for the loved ones they left behind, and together we continue to bear this pain in our hearts to every family."
Despite highly effective vaccines becoming widely available, large numbers of Americans are dying from COVID because only 64 percent of the population is fully immunized.
In his statement, Biden again urged Americans to get vaccinated.
"The vaccines and boosters have proven to be incredibly effective, and provide the highest level of protection," he said.
According to government data, the United States has the highest number of COVID deaths, ahead of Brazil and India.
The COVID pandemic has killed at least 5.7 million people worldwide since it began in December 2019, according to an AFP tally published on Friday.
But the World Health Organization says the actual toll could be two to three times higher.