Daily cases of coronavirus in the US have once again reached more than 70,000, despite the vaccine campaign being pushed by the Biden administration.
President Joe Biden reached his pledge to vaccine 100 million Americans by his 100th day in office after just 58 days, and he has now extended that pledge to see 200 million Americans vaccinated within the same timeframe.
But despite the aggressive inoculation rollout, new cases of Covid-19 in the US crept up to over 70,000 once again, on Thursday – in what is the highest daily figure to be recorded since February.
The rise in cases comes following a warning by President Biden that the war against coronavirus was far from over.
“You’ve heard me say it many times before: Our progress on vaccination is a stunning example that there is nothing — nothing this country cannot do if we put our minds to it and we do it together,” he said on 29 March in remarks from the White House.
“But as I’ve also said, I will always give you it straight — straight from the shoulder. Our work is far from over. The war against COVID-19 is far from won. This is deadly serious.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 435,174 cases of coronavirus recorded in the last seven days, while the daily cases reached 78,000 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The increases in daily cases have prompted talk of a ‘fourth wave’ of the deadly virus, with CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky commenting on Monday: “I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.
“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope. But right now I’m scared,”
