Deaths in the United States will likely reach 410 000 – double the current toll – by the end of the year, the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has forecast.
Deaths could reach a peak of almost 3 000 a day by December.
However, Reuters reported, the institute said deaths could be cut by 30% if more Americans wore face masks as epidemiologists had advised. But mask-wearing was declining.
The institute said: ‘We expect the daily death rate in the United States, because of seasonality and declining vigilance of the public, to reach nearly 3 000 a day in December.
‘Cumulative deaths expected by 1 January are 410 000; this is 225 000 deaths from now until the end of the year,’ it said.
The institute had earlier projected 317 697 deaths by 1 December.
Infections in India surpassed 4 million Saturday, with the focus of the pandemic shifting from cities to countryside.
According to Johns Hopkins University, a total of 86 432 new cases pushed India’s total to 4 023 179. Brazil had confirmed 4 091 801 infections, while the US had 6 200 186 cases.
India’s Health Ministry said the death toll was 69 561.
Britain yesterday reported a further 2 988 cases, the highest number reported on a single day since 22 May.
The BBC reported that Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was ‘concerned’ about a rise in cases ‘predominantly among young people’.
France coded seven more departments, or regions, red, bringing to 28 the number of departments where stricter measures against the virus can be adopted.
The first departments to be coded red due to infection spikes were Paris and Bouches-du-Rhône, on 14 August.
Positive cases in South Africa grew yesterday by 1 633 to a cumulative total of 638 517 (with 563 891 recoveries). Deaths rose by 110 to 14 889.
The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (212 898), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (114 824), the Western Cape (107 187) and the Eastern Cape (86 849).