CDC Data Shows Over 95% US COVID Cases Now Omicron

In the United States, the Omicron variant has accounted for 95% of new COVID-19 infections last week, stated the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At the end of November, more than 99.5 percent of coronavirus infections were Delta in the country.

COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose may Neutralize the Omicron Variant
Researchers demonstrated that the COVID-19 variant Omicron is less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies obtained after two vaccine doses than Delta.

‘According to new CDC estimates released, the swing from Delta to Omicron happened in nearly a month.’

On Monday, the US shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and government decisions to ease prevention and control measures in the country.

More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since late summer when the Delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases.

The figure reflected the 27 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week. Average daily deaths from COVID-19 declined by 8 percent, reports Xinhua news agency.

Experts Say Omicron can be More Lethal for Children Than Delta
The Omicron variant might lead kids to witness more health complications than the Delta variant, warned health experts.

Hospitalization numbers better capture the pandemic's impact than infection figures, Anthony Fauci, the US President's chief medical adviser, told ABC's "This Week."

The worst day of the pandemic for hospitalizations was January 14, 2021, with more than 142,000.

Booster Dose of MRNA Vaccine for Immune Protection Against Omicron
Booster dose of Moderna or Pfizer mRNA-based vaccine could provide immunity against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

So far, the US has remained the country worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths.

It is heading into the third year of the coronavirus pandemic with the extremely contagious Omicron variant poised to ignite a firestorm of infection across the Southeast after exploding through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions reported The Washington Post on Tuesday.

WHO Chief Says Omicron Not Mild, Hospitalizing People
Omicron is hospitalizing and killing people. The first-generation vaccines may not stop all infections and transmission, but they remain highly effective in reducing hospitalization.

"Lower vaccination rates and fewer mask and vaccine mandates have created a much different environment for the Omicron variant to spread in the South, leaving experts unsure whether outbreaks will end up deadlier than in the North," said the report.

Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi are among the states experiencing the sharpest increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations since Christmas, and "the situation may only get worse, as initial outbreaks in metropolitan areas spread to more poorly vaccinated rural regions," it said.

Georgia has shattered records, with nearly 1 in 3 tests coming back positive in the last week of December, and in metro Atlanta, nearly half of tests were positive. New daily infections in Florida have hit an average of about 43,000, far above the peak of 23,000 reached during the Delta variant surge in the summer.

Source-IANS