U.S. sets new grim pandemic records with nearly 1.5 mln daily cases

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States shattered daily COVID-19 cases record again as nearly 1.5 million new COVID-19 cases were reported across the country on Monday, according to latest data of Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 1,481,375 new cases and 1,904 new deaths were reported on Monday. The single-day increase of cases has set a new record around the globe since the onset of the pandemic.

The country has recorded as high as over 5,270,000 new COVID-19 cases over the past week, beating the record set in the previous week from Jan. 2 to 8.

The latest COVID-19 surge in the United States driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant is leading to record high hospitalizations, and critical shortages of healthcare workers.

The country is averaging over 18,500 new hospitalizations each day, setting a new record since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started tracking the data from Aug. 1, 2020.

The new hospitalizations marked a 32.7 percent increase over the previous week.

Health officials said the unvaccinated pushed U.S. hospitalizations to new pandemic high.

COVID-19 deaths are also spiking. The country is averaging over 1,500 deaths daily, a new high since mid-October last year, CDC data show.

The number of child COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are soaring as more schools are reopening after the winter break.

COVID-19 cases among U.S. children are "increasing exponentially," far exceeding the peak of past waves of the pandemic, according to a latest report of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

For the week ending Jan. 6, over 580,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported, a 78 percent increase over the week before, and an almost tripling of case counts from the two weeks prior, according to the AAP.

This marks the 22nd week in a row child COVID-19 cases in the United States are above 100,000.

Nearly 8.5 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the report.

Hospital staffs around the country are struggling to cope with the surge of the pandemic. The U.S. National Guard has been called in to help alleviate strain at hospitals.

The Joe Biden administration planned to make 500 million at-home COVID-19 test kits available at no cost later this month.

The CDC is considering updating its mask guidance to recommend that people opt for the highly protective N95 or KN95 masks to better protect against Omicron, according to The Washington Post report.