The United States sets a global record of 1 million Covid-19 cases in a single day

The United States registered more than 1 million Covid-19 cases on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as the Omicron variant continues to spread at a furious pace.

Johns Hopkins, who has been tracking fall numbers since the beginning of the pandemic, also reported 1,688 deaths during the same period, a day after US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said the country was experiencing “almost a vertical increase” in Covid-19 cases.

Fauci has warned that there is still a risk of an increase in the number of hospitalizations due to the increase in infections, although early data suggest that the Omicron variant is less serious.

“The only difficulty is that if you have so many cases, even if the number of hospital admissions is lower with Omicron than it is with Delta, there is still a risk that you will have an increase in hospital admissions that could stress healthcare.” Fauci said in an interview on Sunday with CNN.

Fauci added that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon come out with a clarification on whether people with Covid-19 should test negative for leaving isolation, after last week’s confusion over guidance that would allow people to leave after five days without symptoms.

The CDC had reduced the recommended isolation period for people with asymptomatic Covid to five days, down from 10. The policy does not require testing to confirm that a person is no longer contagious before returning to work or socializing, prompting some experts to raise questions.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the United States has recorded the most Covid-19 deaths with 826,064, followed by Brazil with 619,133, India with 481,893 and Russia with 311,353.

( Jowharwith AFP, REUTERS)