US coronavirus death toll passes 400,000 amid grim forecast over winter

Thousands more deaths expected this season as more transmissible strain spreads and vaccinations move slowly

More than 400,000 Americans have now been killed by the coronavirus, a horrific marker of the misery the virus has spread across the country, as the rate of deaths from Covid-19 increases.

The latest death toll comes as thousands more deaths are expected in a bleak American winter with widespread Covid transmission, as a more transmissible strain spreads across the country and a mass vaccination campaign gets off to a slow start.