According to estimates by the CDC health authority, the Omikron variant, which is considered particularly contagious, was responsible for more than 58 percent of all infections recorded in the country at the end of December. The number of recorded hospital admissions of infected people last fell in the week up to December 25, but according to the CDC forecast, it is likely to rise again significantly in the coming weeks.
In the country with around 330 million inhabitants, almost 56.2 million people have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, and more than 827,000 people have died. According to the CDC, 62 percent of the population are fully vaccinated, 33.4 percent have received a booster vaccination so far.
The Johns Hopkins website is updated regularly and is more up-to-date than the official figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) or the CDC. In some cases, the numbers – including those of new infections within 24 hours, but also those of the dead – are subsequently corrected.