WASHINGTON: The US may see a spike in COVID-19 related hospitalisations and deaths over the next four weeks, the country's public health agency has warned, driven in large part by the highly infectious Delta variant.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published ensemble forecasts on Wednesday predicting 9,600 to 33,300 new confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions likely reported on September 6 and 3,300 to 12,600 new deaths likely reported in the week ending September 4.
COVID-19 hospitalisations are reaching all-time highs in parts of the South in the US, with some patients unable to get the care they would normally receive, CNN reported.
Across the country, states are struggling to fend off the Delta variant -- the most contagious strain of coronavirus yet, it said.
The Delta variant is highly contagious, nearly twice as contagious as previous variants, the CDC said last week.
This week, ensemble forecasts of new reported COVID-19 hospital admissions over the next 4 weeks included forecasts from 10 modelling groups, each of which contributed a forecast for at least one jurisdiction, the CDC said in a statement.
This week's national ensemble predicts that the number of new daily confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions will likely increase over the next 4 weeks, with 9,600 to 33,300 new confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions likely reported on September 6, the statement said.
The newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely increase over the next 4 weeks, with 3,300 to 12,600 new deaths likely reported in the week ending September 4, 2021.
The national ensemble predicts that a total of 630,000 to 662,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by this date.
The state- and territory-level ensemble forecasts predict that over the next 4 weeks, the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions will likely increase in 43 jurisdictions.
Trends in the number of future reported hospital admissions are uncertain or predicted to remain stable in the other states and territories.
The overall COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US stand at 36,185,761 and 618,454, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University, making it the worst-hit country.
According to data published by the CDC on Wednesday, 50.1 per cent of the total US population is now fully vaccinated -- more than 166 million people.