How many Americans have succumbed to Covid? Blunder-prone Biden says 'over 100'

US President Joe Biden provided a shockingly low death toll while discussing the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, casually leaving out the word "million" as he mentioned that "over 100” Americans have lost their lives to the infectious disease. The 80-year-old leader made the embarrassing blunder on Tuesday.

However, an official transcript of the speech released by the White House covered up the gaffe, correcting it to “over 1 million”. During the mishap-riddled address, Biden announced a new plan for the expansion and growth of mental health care. “We’re still feeling the profound loss of the pandemic. As I mentioned, we have over 100 people dead,” he said. 

“That’s 100 empty chairs around the kitchen table. Every single loss, there are so many people left behind and broken-hearted,” the commander-in-chief continued. Contrary to Biden's claim, about 1,135,000 people across the United States have died as a result of COVID-19, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Across the world, almost 7 million people have succumbed to it, as per the World Health Organization. On Tuesday, the US President unveiled a new plan that would make it necessary for insurers to study patient outcomes to make sure that mental health and physical health perks are administered equally.

Biden talks impact of Covid, but netizens zero in on the blunder

He further revealed that bereaved families of COVID-19 victims are some examples of people who suffered greatly because they did not have government-backed mental health insurance to fall back on. “How many mornings people get up or show up for dinner and there’s an empty chair? The impact on people’s lives is profound,” he said. 

While his speech focused on the serious impact of the pandemic on families, users on social media couldn't help but pay attention to the gaffe. Mocking the president, one user on Twitter said, "Stop giving him a microphone." "He can't even read the teleprompter correctly," another user said, as a third added, "This is our president. It sounds like we locked down the entire country for just 100 lives lost. Not my words. HIs words. What a cognitive mess of a man. This is sad at this point. Really sad and disturbing."