1 in 5 Americans are infected with COVID-19

It is estimated that one in five Americans has been infected with COVID-19. As the growth of new cases has slowed down, some believe that infections by the Omicron variant peaked. Meanwhile, Japan is severely hit by the new variant. In China, people are concerned about how and where one patient infected with Omicron in Beijing caught the variant.

According to the Johns Hopkins University that collects statistics on COVID-19, the accumulated number of COVID-19 patients in the U.S. is 66,405,000 as of Monday, which means about 20 percent of the American population have been infected with the virus during the last two years.

However, the growth of new cases has slowed down. According to the New York Times’ own statistics, the daily average of new cases in the country was 801,903 during the last week. It is about seven times higher than before when the Omicron began to spread in full force, but the figure has been staying around 800,000 cases per day since Thursday.

The State of New York, which is believed to be the initial epicenter of the Omicron variant, saw a drop in its weekly average of daily cases per 100,000 people from 381.7 on January 9 to 250.6 on Sunday. “The Covid clouds are parting,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna announced that the company will launch a combo vaccine that prevents both COVID-19 and flu as early as fall next year.


newsoo@donga.com