US nears 500,000 Covid-19 deaths

US President Joe Biden will join in a moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony for Americans who have died due to Covid-19 as nations globally press on with vaccinations, including with Australia giving its first shots.

But deaths are still coming, and President Biden last month warned that "well over" 600,000 people in the US could die from the virus.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 61 million people have received at least one shot of vaccine in the United States, with some 18 million getting the full two doses.

President Biden has made it a priority to get 100 million people vaccinated within the first 100 days of his administration.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison got the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a medical centre in Sydney, in what the government said was a bid to boost public confidence in the vaccinations that have been subject to some anti-vaccine protests.

Meanwhile, in Britain, the government vowed to offer a first coronavirus vaccine dose to every adult by the end of July, as it readied to announce a gradual easing of its third lockdown.

More than 17 million people have now received at least a first vaccine dose, one third of the adult UK population.

But he said his 100-million-shot goal is on track to be easily surpassed, with a current average of 1.7 million vaccinations a day.

Mr Biden said he did not want to give firm predictions of when the crisis will be curbed, but said that 600 million doses - enough to provide the two-dose regimen to most of the country - were expected to be ready by the end of July.