US records over 1 million new COVID-19 cases, shattering single-day record after reporting backlog

• The US recorded more than a million new COVID-19 cases Monday, per Johns Hopkins, a daily record.

• The record total reflects the spread of the Omicron variant and a holiday reporting backlog.

• The US is averaging 480,273 COVID-19 cases reported a day, its most of the pandemic.

The US on Monday recorded more than a million COVID-19 cases, shattering the single-day record set just last week.

The country reported 1,082,549 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data, bringing its total number to 56,189,547.

The single-day figure was driven up in part by lags in reporting from the long holiday weekend; local health authorities often wait until after weekends or holidays to report positive tests.

Still, the country's seven-day average as of Monday was 480,273 cases, the highest it's been since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins data.

The rise in cases comes amid a global surge of the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant, which is thought to be the dominant coronavirus strain in the US.

New research suggests the variant has a less effective way of attacking lung cells that prior variants and therefore may be less severe in humans.

Roughly 1,200 Americans with COVID-19 died a day last week on average, according to Johns Hopkins data. More than 827,000 people in the US have died with COVID-19.

President Joe Biden is expected to deliver remarks Tuesday to address the spread of Omicron and discuss his administration's response to the surge in cases.

Read the original article on Business Insider