US COVID Cases Increase by 510,000 in One Day... Record High

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] As the new COVID-19 variant Omicron rapidly spreads in the United States, both the daily number of confirmed cases and the 7-day average daily cases have reached record highs.

According to Johns Hopkins University, as of the 28th (local time), the number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. was recorded at 512,553. This is the highest daily figure since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The previous record was 294,015 on January 8.

The conservative 7-day average daily cases also surpassed the previous high of 248,209 on January 12, reaching 254,496.

Local media suggested that the recent surge in Omicron cases, combined with some testing sites closing during the Christmas holiday, may have contributed to the sharp increase in confirmed cases on this day.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has been rising sharply since the end of last month along with the spread of Omicron. Over the past week, confirmed cases increased by 1.66 million, and deaths rose by about 10,000.

According to CNN analysis, COVID-19 hospitalizations in four states?Michigan, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire?have reached record highs this month. Washington D.C. is also nearing the peak levels seen in January this year. Hospitalizations in Ohio, Indiana, and Delaware have increased to about 80% of the peak levels seen earlier this year when case numbers were highest.

The steep rise is attributed to the impact of the new variant Omicron. Highly contagious Omicron has overtaken Delta as the dominant strain in the U.S. According to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on this day, as of the 25th, Omicron accounted for 58.6% of confirmed cases over the past 7 days.

Notably, there has been a sharp increase in child cases recently. Local media, citing Department of Health and Human Services statistics, reported that hospitalizations of children due to COVID-19 have increased by an average of 52% over the past 4 weeks. As of the previous day, there were 2,000 children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. Regionally, child cases have increased mainly in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. Mary Bassett, New York State Health Commissioner, said at a briefing that "the number of child COVID-19 patients has increased fivefold in less than two weeks."

Since the pandemic began, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeds 63 million, with over 810,000 deaths recorded.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.