U.S. COVID deaths could hit 1 million mark in next few weeks: report

NEW YORK, April 26 (Xinhua) -- More than two years into the pandemic, the United States is approaching the "once-unthinkable" threshold of 1 million COVID-19 deaths, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday.

Of the 990,000 and counting death certificates recorded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "at least 90 percent list COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death," the WSJ reported. The remaining 10 percent list the virus as a contributing cause of death.

The New York Times has estimated the country will arrive at the 1 million mark within the coming weeks. When independently analyzed using the current seven-day average of 376 deaths, per CDC data, weekly news magazine The Week similarly calculated the United States would hit 1 million COVID-19 deaths in about a month.

Meanwhile, experts have cautioned that the virus' exact toll is likely being underestimated in official reports, considering undiagnosed cases, especially those from early 2020, the WSJ reported.

Since the start of the pandemic, almost 75 percent of all deaths have been among those at least 65 years old, the CDC has reported. The virus also hit nursing homes especially hard, a phenomenon vaccines eventually helped curb, according to The Week.