US tops 500,000 virus deaths, matching the toll of 3 wars
Baltimore (US): The COVID-19 death toll in the US has topped 500,000, all but matching the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.
The lives lost, as recorded by Johns Hopkins University on Monday, are about equal to the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and greater than that of Miami; Raleigh, North Carolina; or Omaha, Nebraska.
And despite the rollout of vaccines since mid-December, a closely watched model from the University of Washington projects more than 589,000 dead by June 1.
The US toll is by far the highest reported in the world, accounting for 20 per cent of the nearly 2.5 million coronavirus deaths globally, though the true numbers are thought to be significantly greater, in part because of the many cases that were overlooked, especially early in the outbreak.
Average daily deaths and cases have plummeted in the past few weeks. Virus deaths have fallen from more than 4,000 reported on some days in January to an average of fewer than 1,900 per day. But experts warn that dangerous variants could cause the trend to reverse itself.
Some experts say not enough Americans have been inoculated yet for the vaccine to be making much of a difference.
Instead, the drop-off in deaths and cases has been attributed to the passing of the holidays; the cold and bleak days of midwinter, when many people are inclined to stay home; and better adherence to mask rules and social distancing.
The first known deaths from the virus in the US happened in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 dead. The toll hit 200,000 deaths in September and 300,000 in December. Then it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000 and another month to climb from 400,000 to 500,000.
The US recorded an estimated 405,000 deaths in World War II, 58,000 in the Vietnam War and 36,000 in the Korean War.
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BJP wants to end reservation, change Constitution: Kejriwal
Lucknow (PTI): AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the BJP wants to get more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls as it wants to end reservation.
Kejriwal also reiterated his claim that Home Minister Amit Shah will be made the next prime minister and Yogi Adiyanath will be removed as Uttar Pradesh chief minister if the BJP returns to power.
"The people of BJP have always been against reservation. They will change the Constitution and end reservation of SC/ST/OBC after coming to power," he said at a joint press conference along with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav here.
Kejriwal claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a rule that anyone over 75 years of age will not be given any post in the government and the organisation and will be retired.
L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were retired as per this rule and several BJP leaders, as per this rule, were removed or not given ticket.
"PM Modi is going to cross the age of 75 next year and has decided to make Amit Shah the prime minister of the country," Kejriwal said.
He claimed that Modi has been working to ensure the same.
The leaders who could have caused an hindrance were sidelined. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Vasundhra Raje, Raman Singh, Devendra Fadnvis and Manohar Lal Khattar have been finished, he asserted.
Kejriwal said Adityanath will be removed as Uttar Pradesh chief minister if the BJP again comes to power.
"There is only one person who could prove to be a thorn in the way of Amit Shah and that is Adityanath. They have now decided to remove Yogi Adityanath within two months if their government is formed," Kejriwal said.
"They say the BJP is going to do something big after coming to power. The big thing they want to do is to end reservation. We know their ecosystem -- RSS, BJP -- has been against reservation. I want to alert that they want more than 400 seats because they want to destroy the reservation made by B R Ambedkar," he claimed.
Kejriwal said trends coming from across the country show that the BJP is getting less than 220 seats. The seats of BJP in Haryana, Delhi, Karanataka, UP, Maharastra, West Bengal, Bihar and Jahrkhand are reducing and the party is not winning a single seat in Punjab, he claimed.
The SP chief claimed that BJP will win only 143 of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats.
"The BJP has been defeated in the first four phases. It was giving the slogan of wining 400 seats but is winning only 143 of the total 543 seats," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
