US sets global daily record of over 1 mn Covid-19 cases

Monday’s number is almost double that of about 5,90,000 set just 4 days ago

Washington, Jan. 4: More than 1 million people in the US were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as a tsunami of Omicron swamps every aspect of daily American life.

The highly mutated variant drove US cases to a record, the most — by a large margin — that any country has ever reported. Monday’s number is almost double the previous record of about 5,90,000 set just four days ago in the US, which itself was a doubling from the prior week.

It is also more than twice the case count seen anywhere else at any time since the pandemic began more than two years ago. The highest number outside the US came during India’s Delta surge, when more than 4,14,000 people were diagnosed on May 7, 2021.

The stratospheric numbers being posted in the US come even as many Americans are relying on tests they take at home, with results that aren’t reported to official government authorities. That means the record is surely a significant under-estimate.

While surging cases haven’t yet translated into severe infections and skyrocketing deaths, their impact

has been felt across the country as the newly infected isolate at home. The results are cancelled flights, closed schools and offices, overwhelmed hospitals and strangled supply chains. The data from Johns Hopkins University is complete as of midnight eastern time in Baltimore, and delays in reporting

over the holidays may have played a role in the rising rates. This is a modal window. The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.

The surge is leading authorities to mull a revision of some measures put in place to help guide the nation

through the latest phase of the outbreak. While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the isolation period to five days for asymptomatic people who test positive for Covid-19, the agency may add that they should get a negative test result before venturing out again. —

AFP Revellers are pictured during the “Chant to Earth” parade during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites at the Libertad stadium in Pasto, Colombia, on Monday. Due to the Covid-19, the parade was moved from the streets to the stadium. —