As the global surge in the number of Covid-19 cases continues to haunt major economies, the Western world remains the worst hit. According to the latest data the US reported over 1 million new Covid-19 cases this week.
The US health authorities registered more than three times as many new cases as in any previous wave of the coronavirus, over 1 million reported on Monday alone.
As of today about 1 of every 100 Americans is reported to have tested positive for Covid, the data Johns Hopkins University shows. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met the White House coronavirus response team to discuss a course of action as omicron becomes ubiquitous.
Johns Hopkins University data this week shows about 1,042,000 more cases than the day before, and it wasn't immediately clear that all states had reported in. That count clearly includes hefty numbers of backlogged cases.
The preliminary total for Monday could drive the country to a weekly average of close to 450,000 cases per day. The previous highest total for a whole week, 1.76 million, figures to be not only surpassed but possibly doubled.
The US has recorded more than 55 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, or one for every six people in the country — and more than 826,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday expanded the emergency use authorization of a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to include youths 12 to 15.
