Preliminary reports have revealed that the United States has recorded a staggering 1.35 million new coronavirus infections.

The record in new cases came the same day as the nation saw the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients also hit an all-time high, having doubled in three weeks.

This is the highest total for any country in the world, as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The previous record was 1.03 million cases on January 3.

A large number of cases are reported each Monday due to many states not reporting on weekends. Additionally, the seven-day average for new cases has tripled in two weeks to over 700,000 new infections a day.

Amidst the rise in COVID cases in the country, the US is facing a severe hospital staff shortage. Furthermore, many hospitals are not only swamped with cases but are severely shorthanded as many employees have contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the Omicron variant is on track to infect more than half of Europeans and should not be seen as a flu-like endemic illness.

Preliminary findings have also pointed out that two South African clinical trials suggest that the Omicron variant has a much higher rate of asymptomatic carriage than earlier variants, which explains its continued spread around the globe.

As it stands, cities across China are now imposing tighter restrictions to try to control new outbreaks of COVID-19, with Tianjin now battling the Omicron variant which has already been detected in at least two other provinces.

Additionally, Australia’s COVID-19 infections hovered near record levels, as a surge of infections caused by Omicron, has put an immune strain on hospitals that have already been stretched by staff isolating after being exposed to the virus.