US Covid-19 outbreak soon to be deadlier than any flu since 1967

CORONAVIRUS | US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally.

America's worst flu season in recent years was in 2017-2018 when more than 61,000 people died, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The only deadlier flu seasons were in 1967 when about 100,000 Americans died, 1957 when 116,000 died and the Spanish flu of 1918 when 675,000 died, according to the CDC.

The United States has the world’s highest coronavirus death toll and a daily average of 2,000 people died in April of the highly contagious respiratory illness Covid-19, according to a Reuters tally. 

The first US death was recorded on Feb 29 but recent testing in California indicates the first death might have been on Feb 6, with the virus circulating weeks earlier than previously thought.

On Tuesday, Covid-19 deaths in the United States eclipsed in a few months the 58,220 Americans killed during 16 years of US military involvement during the Vietnam War. Cases topped 1 million.

- Reuters

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