The United States shattered the global record of daily coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases with at least 1.3 million infections reported on Monday, according to a Reuters report, amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. The previous record was 1.03 million daily new infections on January 3. As many states do not report new cases over the weekend, Mondays see an increase in reported infections. The report suggests that some states were yet to report on Monday so the final figure is likely to be even higher.Despite the Omicron strain being reported as a less severe variant, the new variant of concern has driven the hospitalisations to an all-time high in the US. The number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients have doubled in three weeks, reported Reuters, surpassing the record of 132,051 hospitalisations set in January last year.The highly transmissible variant has strained the healthcare systems, forcing many hospitals in the United States to suspend elective surgeries amid an increase in Covid hospitalisations and staff shortages. According to Our World in Data, the United States is reporting over 2,130 daily Covid-19 cases per million people, quickly catching up with the United Kingdom.

While the Omicron-driven surge in the US was later than Britain, France continues to report a worrying rise in Covid-19 cases despite the surge almost coinciding with that of the UK. On a seven-day rolling average, France is reporting nearly 4,000 daily cases per million people.

On Sunday, the cumulative Covid-19 cases in the US surpassed 60 million, with at least 837,594 fatalities since January 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

(With inputs from agencies)

US shatters global record with at least 1.1 million Covid cases in a day (msn.com)