The United States on Wednesday surpassed the 250,000 death toll from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
The country, where the number of infected has increased significantly in recent weeks, is the most affected in the world by the virus, ahead of Brazil and India.
With more than 11 million cases, it represents almost a fifth of the total number of infections registered worldwide since the appearance of the new
coronavirus in China at the end of 2019.
The United States has recorded an average of more than 1,000 deaths a day in the past two weeks.
Faced with a new acceleration of the virus, some states and cities have restored the restrictions, anticipating the celebrations of Thanksgiving Day, marked in general by large family gatherings and trips around the country.
New York state has imposed a curfew on bars and restaurants and will close its schools starting Thursday. The mayor of Chicago, the nation's third-largest city, has asked its residents to stay home, with the exception of essential travel.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in late October, estimated excess mortality related to the
Covid-19 pandemic in the United States at 300,000 people, based on demographic models.
Pfizer and Moderna recently announced of two effective experimental
vaccines against
Covid-19, which if they receive the green light from the US drug agency, could allow the first vaccinations to proceed before the end of the year.
Some see this as light at the end of the tunnel, while others are skeptical about the fast pace of arrival of a
vaccine, as it usually takes several years of research to make sure that a virus
vaccine is really safe for humans.