Washington, Oct 1 (IANS): For the first time since June, the rate of new Covid-19 deaths in the US is expected to decrease over the next four weeks, according to the latest ensemble forecast by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has also predicted that hospitalisations will decrease as well.

According to The New York Times on Thursday, the seven-day average of confirmed cases of the pandemic stood at 112,798 nationwide on Wednesday, with its 16-day change striking a 26 per cent fall, reports Xinhua news agency.

The deaths were 1,984 on Wednesday, the first time below 2,000 in recent weeks, with the 14-day change realizing only a 2 per cent rise.

On Thursday, Scott Gottlieb, a former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, estimated that the ongoing Delta-driven wave of the pandemic could run its course by Thanksgiving, and Covid-19 could eventually become more of a seasonal nuisance than a devastating pandemic.

However, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that is dependent on getting a lot more people vaccinated.

The CDC updated on Thursday that 214,043,376 people have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, making up 64.5 per cent of the whole population; fully vaccinated people stood at 184,335,263, accounting for 55.5 per cent of the total.

There was a little bit scaling back for this rate -- it was listed as 55.8 per cent by the agency on Wednesday.

As of Friday morning, the US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 43,459,200 and 697,840 respectively.