During his first week in office, Biden issued a detailed new anti-pandemic strategy, pledged to boost testing, vaccinations, supplies and treatments, and mandated masks on federal lands and in inter-state train, bus and air travel.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is still fighting a brutal battle against the virus as its total number of infections topped 25 million on Sunday.
U.S. COVID-19 cases rose to 25.1 million with over 491,000 deaths as of Sunday evening, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
It took the country just over a year to hit the grim milestone of 25 million infections. The first U.S. COVID-19 case was reported in the state of Washington last January.
Heath experts have attributed U.S. failure to control the virus to political polarization, a rejection of science and an absence of a national strategy under the Trump administration.
The 25 million mark came as President Joe Biden is introducing new measures to bring the pandemic under control.
During his first week in office, Biden issued a detailed new anti-pandemic strategy, pledged to boost testing, vaccinations, supplies and treatments, and mandated masks on federal lands and in inter-state train, bus and air travel.
A man wearing a mask visits the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told Xinhua on Sunday that Biden's plan will help better control the virus.
"I think that they will help. Just having a president who believes in the seriousness of the pandemic will help," said Perlman.
The soaring infections have further increased an urgency for a speedier and more effective vaccination push in the country.
The Trump administration failed to fulfill its target of immunizing 20 million Americans by the end of 2020.
Biden's national vaccination campaign aims to administer 100 million doses of two-stage coronavirus vaccines in his first 100 days.
"I think that 100 million doses is feasible, but requires increases in manufacturing and more importantly, more aid to local and state governments to enable effective vaccine distribution," said Perlman.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that Biden's target of 100 million doses in 100 days is not a final number.
