Church bells rang 700 times to represent the lives taken by the virus

The U.S. has reached a milestone, tallying 700,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Washington National Cathedral bells rang 700 times on Tuesday to commemorate the lives lost, a number greater than the population of Boston.

The last 100,000 deaths comes in the last three and a half months, after the U.S. population has been largely vaccinated, with vaccines available to any American over the age of 12.

70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated despite vaccines being available to all for the past six months.

U.S. President Joe Biden says Americans must not become “numb to the sorrow”.

“On this day, and every day, we remember all those we have lost to this pandemic and we pray for their loved ones left behind who are missing a piece of their soul,” he says.

President Biden emphasises the importance of getting vaccinated saying it has helped to reduce the severity of the virus.

“Hundreds of thousands of families have been spared the unbearable loss that too many Americans have already endured during this pandemic.”

Infectious Disease Epidemiologist at John Hopkins school of Public Health Dr David Dowdy says 70 per cent of those 100,000 deaths were in unvaccinated people.

“If we had been more effective in our vaccination, then I think it’s fair to say, we could have prevented 90 percent of those deaths,” Dr Dowdy says.