The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 1 million for the first time.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Corona 19 Resource Center, there were 1,082,549 new confirmed cases in the United States on the 4th (local time).
This is almost double the previous record of 590,000 in the United States. It is the first time in the world that a country has surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases per day. However, experts believe that the actual number of confirmed cases will be higher if those who have not been tested or have self-tested are included.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that 95.4% of new confirmed cases in the past week (December 26 to January 1) were infected with the new mutation Omicron.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are currently 103,329 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the United States, exceeding 100,000 for the first time in four months since September last year.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, White House chief medical adviser, told CNN: “Now, the criterion for judging the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic is the number of hospitalized patients, not new cases.” “Even if the hospitalization rate due to the spread of omicron is lower than the delta mutation, there is a risk that the overall number of hospitalizations increases, putting pressure on the medical system.”
In addition, the number of new confirmed cases in the UK reached 218,724 per day, surpassing 200,000 for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19. Italy also hit a new high with 178,44 new infections.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press conference on the same day that “it is wrong to think that the war once morest COVID-19 is over.” “90% of COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit have not been vaccinated,” he said.
WHO: “Increasing cases, but fewer deaths… decoupling”
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that ‘there is increasing evidence that the symptoms of Omicron infection are milder than other mutations’.
“Unlike other mutations that can cause severe pneumonia, research continues to show that Omicron infects the upper respiratory tract,” said Abdi Mahamud, head of WHO’s COVID-19 emergency management, at a briefing. “This might be good news.” said.
“In some countries or regions, the number of new confirmed cases is at an all-time high, but the death toll is not as high as in the previous epidemic,” he said.
However, he said, “Because Omicron is highly contagious, it can be dangerous in countries where there are many people who have not yet been vaccinated. It is regarding completing more than 70% inoculation,” he emphasized. It is the same as the target announced by WHO on the 1st of the 1st, ‘to achieve 70% of the world’s vaccination rate by the middle of 2022’, proposing to resolve vaccine inequality as a condition to end Corona 19.
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