For the first time in pandemic history the number of cases of COVID-19 in one week are above 2 million. This is a new record as the omicron variant is surging across the nation. However, although this new variant is highly transmissible, the number of deaths in the past week is lower when compared the most deaths in a week in January.

According to a report in USA TODAY, the nation recorded 647,067 cases Thursday and the tally in the last four days was more than 2 million cases. This past week surpassed the previous record of 1.7 million cases that was seen in January 3 to 9, as per data obtained from Johns Hopkins and analyzed by USA TODAY.

The report also said that weekly death count was well below record levels. During the week, January 10 to 16, 2021, the largest number of deaths were recorded. The number for a single week stood at 23,415 at this time. However, this past week the deaths are less than half this number and stand at 10, 823.

The analysis showed that 16 states across the nation reported record number of COVID cases on Thursday. It also indicated that one in every 10 counties was setting a record in the week ending Thursday. Cases in the nation are also being reported much faster, about 95 percent quicker than just a week ago.

A point to be noted is that COVID cases are increasing at a high rate across almost all the countries in the world. The analysis reports that cases across the world are up by about 61 percent. There are close to 14 cases per second. In two weeks, the number of coronavirus cases have doubled.

The huge surge of COVID cases can be attributed to the emergence of the new variant–omicron. It is highly transmissible. It has symptoms very similar to a cold and flu so it seems to spread faster as people may not realize that they have a COVID infection instead of flu or a cold. However, the number of hospitalizations and deaths are much lower when compared with the delta variant.