Half a million Americans could die of coronavirus by February, study reveals

The coronavirus death toll in the US could have reached more than half a million by February, a new study has predicted.

The modelling, carried out be researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), predicted that 511,373 lives could be lost to Covid-19 across the United States by 28 February 2021.

If the research is correct, a much-feared third peak of the virus in the country could lead to the deaths of nearly 300,000 people over the next four months.

The study mapped out various scenarios and their projected impact on the spread of the Covid-19 across the US.