WASHINGTON, 04 Dec. - (ANA) - Joe Biden is to ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office to curtail the spread of Covid-19. 

 

The US president-elect told CNN he believed there would be a “significant reduction” in Covid-19 cases if every American wore a face covering. Donald Trump rejected calls from US health experts to mandate masks on public transport as “overly restrictive”.

 

Over 2,760 people were reported dead from Covid-19 in the U.S. on Wednesday, more than on any other day since the pandemic began.

 

Not since spring, during the pandemic’s first peak, were so many deaths reported. The high point then was 2,752 deaths on April 15.

 

The death toll record came on a day when hospitalizations from the virus topped 100,000 patients for the first time, nearly double the peak from the first wave in the spring.

 

The steep rise in hospitalizations follows a rapid hike in new cases, which now number more than a million a week. Deaths, which tend to lag behind hospitalizations, have also been rising fast lately, and now total more than 270,000.

 

The numbers paint a sobering picture of what the next few weeks may look like, experts said.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/04 December 2020 - - -