Infections top 40m as US hospitals fill up

The resurgence in COVID-19 in the United States has pushed the tally of infections past 40 million, with the number of deaths from the disease fast closing in on 650,000.

The unwanted milestone on infections was logged by the Johns Hopkins University on Monday.

Over the past week, more than 161,000 infections were being added each day, according to a database kept by The New York Times, which said about 100,000 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals nationwide.

The surge driven by the Delta variant of the coronavirus has been steadily filling hospital wards in many states. Only a handful of facilities have more than 30 percent of their intensive-care beds still available, according to the US Health and Human Services Department.

On Sunday, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and US President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told the CNN network: "We are perilously close in certain areas of the country getting so close to having full occupancy that you're going to be in a situation where you're going to have to make some tough choices."

Oregon and Idaho have reported running out of ICU beds as they confront a surge in infections.

In Oregon, the seven-day average of hospitalizations hit 1,219 on Friday, almost double the previous high reached in December, according to The New York Times' database.

Fewer beds available

Idaho had a seven-day average of 512 hospitalizations on Friday, a number that has grown rapidly since July, according to the newspaper.

The Oregon Health Authority reported on Saturday that only 50 of the state's 638 hospital beds were still available.

Patrick Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, said in an interview on Saturday that 127 patients in the state were waiting in emergency departments for beds to open up. He said hospitals in southern Oregon, where vaccination rates were lowest, were especially hard hit.

Idaho Governor Brad Little, a Republican, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, each mobilized their states' National Guard last month to add extra hospital staff.

US investment bank Goldman Sachs on Monday revised down its forecast for US economic growth this year as consumers are likely to spend less amid the Delta-fueled COVID-19 surge, according to Bloomberg News.

Goldman Sachs economist Ronnie Walker wrote in a report to clients on Monday that overall US economic expansion in 2021 is now seen at 5.7 percent, lower than the 6 percent estimated at the end of August, Bloomberg reported.

"The hurdle for strong consumption growth going forward appears much higher: the Delta variant is already weighing on Q3 growth, and fading fiscal stimulus and a slower service-sector recovery will both be headwinds in the medium term," Walker was quoted as saying, pointing to a "harder path" ahead for consumers than previously anticipated.

Xinhua contributed to this story.