WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The White House urged Congress to move promptly to approve at least part of a $22.5 billion funding that the Biden administration had requested to carry out the fight against the pandemic.
The White House Covid-19 Response Team and Public Health Officials last week had warned of the dire consequences that the country will face if Congress fails to provide more funds for the Covid response.
The Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are nearing a deal on a $10 billion package to fund some of the most very urgent COVID response needs.
What the Biden administration had requested was $22.5 billion to achieve a number of objectives, including securing enough booster shots for the general population; purchasing more monoclonal antibodies and Evusheld for the immunocompromised; maintaining testing capacity; donate vaccines to foreign countries; and funding for variant-specific vaccines if needed.
'We urge Congress to move promptly on this $10 billion package because it can begin to fund the most immediate needs, as we currently run the risk of not having some critical tools like treatments and tests starting in May and June,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
'We will continue to work with Congress to fund our remaining domestic needs and will work with Senators Schumer and Romney - and others - to build bipartisan support for a package to fund our global COVID-19 response,' she added.
Total U.S. Covid casualties reached 997,134 and Covid cases increased to 81,496,138 on Monday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
New York reported the most number of cases - 6393 - while Florida reported most casualties - 119.
Just 15,692 patients are remaining in the country's hospitals for treatment for the viral disease. Hospital admissions reduced by 27 percent in two weeks.
There is also a concurrent reduction in the number of patients admitted in intensive care units - 35 percent within a fortnight. I.C.U. admissions dropped to 2376.
65,841,278 people have so far recovered from the disease, the Worldometer tally shows.
As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 217,882,466 Americans, or 65.6 percent of the eligible population, have been administered both doses of Covid vaccine so far. This includes 89.2 percent of people above 65.
45 percent of the eligible population, or 98,065,668 people, have received a booster dose that is recommended to provide additional protection from the killer virus.
17949 additional deaths were reported globally on Monday, taking the total number of people who lost their lives due to the pandemic so far to 6,171,347.
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