California first US State to record over 5 million infections amid soaring Omicron cases

Amid the surge of the new Omicron variant in the United States, the new COVID-19 instances have skyrocketed to their highest level on record which is currently standing over 265,000 per day on average. As per the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the number of new cases each day has more than doubled in the last two weeks, surpassing the previous high of 250,000 established in mid-January. The spike in the cases has also been added by California, which became the first state to report over 5 million known coronavirus cases, Associated Press reported. 

California is also ahead of other big states in terms of caseload. As of Sunday, Texas had over 4.4 million cases while Florida had over 3.9 million. COVID-19 has been linked to over 75,500 fatalities in California. Further, California, like most other places in the nation, is listed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an area with "high" transmission of the virus. However, California had just reported 16.4 new cases per 100,000 persons in the previous week, less than a third of the nation's rate. 

COVID fatalities in the United States have risen

Furthermore, CDC revealed that the number of US citizens in hospitals with COVID-19 is approximately 60,000, or roughly half of what it was in January. Hospitalisations occasionally lag after cases, which indicates that both the vaccine's protection and the Omicron are not making patients sick as much as prior versions. COVID fatalities in the United States have risen from an average of 1,200 per day to about 1,500 in the last two weeks. 

Despite this, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious-disease specialist in the US, said on Wednesday that small house gatherings among vaccinated and boosted relatives and friends are need not be cancelled. However, “if your plans are to go to a 40- to 50-person New Year’s Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year, I would strongly recommend that this year we not do that,” citing Fauci, Associated Press reported. 

Biden COVID plans

In addition to this, US President Joe Biden declared that his government will make 500 million fast at-home tests accessible to Americans for free, as well as increase assistance for hospitals by adding testing facilities and expanding capacity in areas where COVID-19 vaccination centres are few. As part of his administration's efforts to improve testing and tracking in order to suppress the Omicron wave over the winter, citizens will be able to request fast tests through a website and have them delivered free of charge to their doorsteps beginning in January. 

COVID cases in the US

Meanwhile, as per Worldometers, over 54,656,866 individuals have been affected by the disease in the nation since the outbreak, and more than 844,272 people have lost their lives due to Coronavirus. 

(Image: AP/ Shutterstock)