The COVID-19 death toll plunged by nearly 20 percent in the US over the past week — even as the number of new cases and hospitalizations continued to rise, officials said Wednesday.
A total of 745 people died from the virus between March 30 and April 5 — down 19.7 percent from the 928 people during the previous week, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House press briefing.
The decrease in fatalities came as vaccination rates continued to ramp up across the nation — with around 3 million people now getting shots per day in the US, she said.
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“I’m encouraged by the decreased numbers of deaths,” Walensky said. “While these rates of vaccinations are incredible and so encouraging for all of us, trends are increasing in both case numbers and hospitalizations.”
The average number of daily coronavirus cases grew 2.3 percent from 62,058 to 63,479 from last week to
