US President Joe Biden said surging COVID-19 cases won’t be the “new normal,” though the virus is likely to endure and can be managed with newly developed tools.
The US recorded a record one million cases on Monday, and hundreds of thousands each day since, including nearly 800,000 on Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The omicron variant is driving that surge. While indications are that cases are less likely to be serious or fatal, the sheer number is straining hospitals and health systems.
Hospitalisations have soared in the US, matching the records set last year. The seven-day average of new admissions of COVID-19 patients is about 16,500 per day, 60 per cent higher than a week earlier. But deaths from COVID have remained relatively flat so far, with an average of about 1200 a day, compared with about 3400 a year ago.