Coronavirus Update: U.S. death rate higher than those of other wealthy countries
The average number of daily deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. over the past week has climbed above 2,600, according to a New York Times tracker, now higher than the peak surge in the fall when the delta variant was the dominant variant and close to the peak last winter, before vaccines were available.
Read: U.S. businesses shed 301,000 jobs in January, ADP says, in biggest drop since start of pandemic as omicron hits The only European countries with higher death rates are Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Greece and the Czech Republic, the Times reported, noting that treatments in those countries are in short supply.
Denmark on Tuesday became the first European Union country to drop all of its COVID restrictions — including face masks, vaccine passes and limited opening hours — even as it is seeing record numbers of cases. Norway followed suit on Wednesday. The U.K. and Ireland have also dropped most restrictions, the former amid a political firestorm over Downing Street parties held during strict national lockdowns.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, noted that omicron has already infected nearly 90 million people since it was first brought to light by researchers in South Africa in November, more COVID-19 cases than were counted in all of 2020. The omicron subvariant, also identified as BA.2, is now in 57 countries, according to the update, which encouraged investigations into its transmissibility, immune escape properties and virulence.• As expected, Pfizer PFE, +0.76% and German partner BioNTech BNTX, -0.86% late Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 in the U.S., saying that three doses of the vaccine may be needed.
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