New model predicts 569,000 total COVID-19 deaths in US by May: media
Xinhua
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A California National Guard nurse (C) wears personal protective equipment (PPE) while working hospital staff to assist patients in a suspected Covid-19 patient triage area set up in a field hospital tent outside the emergency department of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Community Hospital on January 6, 2021 in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. (Photo: AFP)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- A model developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected that 569,000 people in the United States will have died from COVID-19 by May 1, U.S. media reported Monday.

The model showed a slight increase from its last update, which projected 566,000 deaths by May.

The latest forecast has yet to account for new variants of COVID-19, said Christopher Murray, director of the institute, in an interview with CNN International.

The model expected that 157 million Americans will be vaccinated by that time, equivalent to 36 percent of the country's population being immunized on condition that vaccines are 50 percent effective, CNN reported.