US coronavirus cases, deaths drop to lowest levels since March 2020

CHICAGO, United States

The US top disease agency reported the lowest numbers of new coronavirus cases and deaths on Thursday since the start of the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control said the number of new cases has fallen to around 15,600 per day -- the lowest level since March of 2020.

Comparisons to the time frame are not entirely reliable; testing was still spotty then, and it has never been entirely clear when the virus started spreading across the US.

Still, the head of CDC, Rochelle Walensky, said at the White House that it was "news I like to deliver and certainly these data are encouraging and uplifting."

She said there has been a 30% drop in new cases from the previous seven-day average and a whopping 94 % drop from the peak number of cases in January.

The average number of daily deaths has fallen to around 363 per day -- also the lowest since March of 2020.

Vaccinations are helping. Almost 63% of American adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. But those numbers are starting to dip, so the Biden administration is offering everything from child care incentives to free beer to reach the administration's goal of 70% of adults vaccinated by the July 4 holiday.

The Anheuser-Busch beer company plans to buy every American a round of beer if that goal is met in its "Let's Grab a Beer" initiative.

Separately, the Biden administration announced Thursday that it will donate 25 million vaccine doses to low- and middle-income nations, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

"We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions," President Joe Biden said in a statement, but "to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic."