US records over 1 million new COVID-19 cases in a single day, shattering previous record

• The US recorded more than one million new COVID-19 cases shattering the previous daily record.
• The US reported 1,082,549 cases Monday.

The US recorded more than one million COVID-19 cases in a single day, shattering the previous record set last week.

The US reported 1,082,549 cases Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, bringing the country's total number of COVID-19 cases to 56,189,547.

The US seven-day average is 480,273 daily cases as of Jan 3, the highest its been since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins data.

The rise in cases comes amid a global surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the US. In December, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the variant made up 95% of the cases in the country.

According to newly unveiled research, the Omicron coronavirus variant might be less severe in humans because it has a less effective way of attacking lung cells.

Roughly 1,200 Americans died a day last week according to Johns Hopkins data. A total of at least 827,748 people in the US have died from COVID-19.

President Joe Biden is expected to deliver remarks on Tuesday to address the spread of Omicron and discuss his administration's response to the record surge in cases.