[ti:US Passes 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]The United States reached 500,000 deaths linked to COVID-19,
[00:06.40]the disease caused by the new coronavirus, on Monday.
[00:12.40]U.S. President Joe Biden spoke about the global health crisis late Monday.
[00:18.88]He led a moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony
[00:24.88]to remember those who died at the White House.
[00:29.60]First lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
[00:35.28]and her husband joined him.
[00:39.68]Dr. Anthony Fauci is the top expert
[00:43.52]on infectious diseases in the U.S.
[00:47.72]He told CNN television news on Sunday:
[00:52.36]"It's nothing like we have ever been through
[00:56.60]in the last 102 years,
[00:59.84]since the 1918 influenza pandemic."
[01:05.96]Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. state of Maryland
[01:10.76]records information about the crisis from around the world,
[01:15.64]including the number of deaths, on its website.
[01:20.92]It says nearly 2.5 million have died worldwide.
[01:28.44]The U.S. passed 400,000 deaths just over one month ago.
[01:34.92]The first recorded coronavirus deaths in the U.S.
[01:39.88]came in February 2020.
[01:43.68]Four months later, 100,000 people had died.
[01:50.40]Experts believe the total number of deaths could be higher
[01:55.36]because of testing problems earlier in the health crisis.
[01:59.88]They believe people who died from COVID-19
[02:04.32]may not have been counted.
[02:07.48]Johns Hopkins estimates
[02:10.16]that there have been more than 110 million cases
[02:14.04]of COVID-19 worldwide.
[02:17.24]The U.S. number is more than 28 million,
[02:22.16]followed by India, which has about 11 million.
[02:28.24]The United States is currently vaccinating millions of people.
[02:33.48]President Biden promised to vaccinate 100 million people
[02:39.48]in his first 100 days in office.
[02:43.80]It is likely the number will be higher than that.
[02:47.56]Currently, about 1.7 million people are being vaccinated each day.
[02:55.80]Even with the vaccine, a mathematical model
[02:59.76]from the University of Washington predicts
[03:03.96]that there will be close to 600,000 deaths
[03:07.68]in the United States by June 1.
[03:12.56]I'm Dan Friedell.
[03:14.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM