Washington, Feb 10 (IANS): A new ensemble forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has projected up to 978,000 total Covid-19 deaths in the US by early March.

The projection published Wednesday forecast that 5,800 to 21,700 new Covid-19 deaths will be reported during the week ending March 5, and that a total of 942,000 to 978,000 Covid-19 deaths will be reported by that date, Xinhua news agency reported.

The state- and territory-level ensemble forecasts predict that over the next four weeks, the number of newly reported deaths per week will likely decrease in 18 US jurisdictions, according to the CDC.

Several US states have announced plans to relax key mitigation measures as new Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations started to drop. But CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday that despite encouraging trends in Covid-19 case rates, it is not time for the country as a whole to relax mitigation efforts.

"We are not there yet," Walensky added at a White House briefing.

"We continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission -- that's much of the country right now -- in public indoor settings," she said.