Iran Press/America: The U.S. record for daily coronavirus cases has been broken, as two highly contagious variants, Delta and Omicron have converged to disrupt holiday travel and gatherings, deplete hospital staff and plunge the United States into another long winter.
Hospitalizations, too, are rising, though not to the extent of previous surges. Around 71,000 people were being treated as of Monday, fewer than during the peak of the Delta variant when more than 100,000 people were hospitalized.
Case rates are extremely high across much of the Northeast, including in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Infection levels are also spiking around Miami and Chicago, as well as in Puerto Rico.
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed over the past two weeks from an average of 1,200 per day to around 1,500.
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