The highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 accounted for 99.9 percent of new weekly infections in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

New COVID-19 infections have risen rapidly since early December 2021, driven by the spread of Omicron.

Omicron accounted for only 0.6 percent of fresh cases in the week ending 4 December 2021. This shot up to 89.3 percent by 1 January 2022, and 97.8 percent in the week ending 15 January 2022, according to the CDC.

The Delta variant, which spiked in the summer of 2021, only made up 0.1 percent of cases reported in the week ending 29 January 2022, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Several studies indicate that current authorised COVID-19 vaccines could provide strong protection against hospitalization and death caused by the Omicron variant.

In both strains - Delta and Omicron, incidence and hospitalization rates were the highest among unvaccinated persons, and the lowest in vaccinated persons with a booster, according to the CDC.

(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT)

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