‘Covid-19 infected about 60 million people in the US’

Health workers prepare as people arrive at a COVID-19-19 testing station in Houston, Texas for a COVID test on January 7. Pic/AFP

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 60 million on Sunday and has killed at least 837,594 people in the US since January 2020, according to research from Johns Hopkins University.

The US remains the nation most impacted by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up around 20 per cent of the global caseload. It also accounts for more than 15 per cent of global mortality.

As of 4:21 p.m. local time (2121 GMT) Sunday, the US COVID-19 case count had risen to 60,062,077, with a total of 837,504 deaths, according to the statistics, reported Xinhua News Agency. On November 9, 2020, the US COVID-19 caseload reached 10 million, crossed 20 million on January 1, 2021, surpassed 30 million on March 24. Furthermore, the caseload surpassed 40 million on September 6, and surpassed 50 million on December 13, reported the news agency.

The US on December 1, 2021, reported its first case of the ‘Omicron' variant. The case has been detected in the US state of California, Top Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci was quoted as saying by CNN.

‘Deltacron, likely a lab contamination'

After a scientist in Cyprus claimed that his team has identified a new variant being dubbed ‘Deltacron', Indian-origin COVID expert at the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Krutika Kuppalli tweeted, "#Deltacron is not real and is likely due to sequencing artifact (lab contamination of #Omicron sequence fragments in a #Delta specimen)."Let's not merge names of infectious diseases and leave it to celebrity couples."

Earlier, Tom Peacock, a virologist at the Imperial College London, had said, "When new variants come through sequencing lab contamination isn't that uncommon (very very tiny volumes of liquid can cause this) - just usually these fairly clearly contaminated sequences are not reported by major media outlets."

Martin Michaelis, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Kent, told The Mirror, "Researchers from Cyprus have sequenced samples of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, and received genomic sequences that combine features of the Omicron and Delta variants. It is not yet clear whether this is real or a sequencing error or the consequence of contamination."

83,39,659 No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
30,72,55,380 Total no. of cases worldwide
54,89,889 Total no. of deaths worldwide

China's Tianjin on partial lockdown

The major port of Tianjin may be facing China's first local outbreak of omicron of any size, less than a month before the Winter Olympics open in nearby Beijing. State broadcaster CCTV said the government has divided Tianjin and its 14 million residents into three levels of restrictions. Buses and trains from Tianjin to Beijing have been suspended and people are told not to leave the city unless they have pressing business.

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