It has been over a year since the vaccine was rolled out. Now, new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to the highest level that has been recorded. Currently, the numbers stand at over 265,000 per day on average. This surge is driven largely by the extremely contagious omicron variant.

Previously, the mark was 250,000 cases per day, set in mid-January, as per the data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

The fast-spreading mutant variant of the virus has cast a pall over Christmas and New Year’s festivities, forcing communities to scale back or call off their arrangements just weeks after it appeared that Americans would be able to enjoy an almost normal holiday season. Now, thousands of flights have been cancelled amid staffing shortages, that has been blamed on the virus. Last year too, celebrations were muted, as the world was just grappling with COVID-19. 

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Presently, the number of Americans in hospitals, with COVID-19 is around 60,000. This is about half the figure seen in January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

It is entirely possible that hospitalizations sometimes lag behind case numbers. But the figures may indicate omicron is not making people as severely ill as the previous variants, as many experts suspect.

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Notably, this has been one of the reasons why the CDC has opted to shorten the length of self-isolation for those who have the coronavirus but are asymptomatic. Currently, those who do not show symptoms after five days of testing positive can end their quarantine but must wear masks around other people. Dr Anthony Fauci explained the logic behind this move, saying, “…we want to get people back to their jobs — particularly those with essential jobs — to keep our society running smoothly”. 

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COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 1,200 per day to around 1,500.

Several European nations, including France, Britain, Greece, and Spain, have also reported record case counts this week. This has prompted a ban on music at New Year’s celebrations in Greece while there has been a renewed push to encourage vaccination on the part of French authorities.

[Edited with AP inputs]