The Omicron variant now makes up 95% of recent COVID-19 cases in the US, the CDC said

• The Omicron variant is estimated to make up a staggering 95% of recent COVID-19 cases, the CDC says.
• Recent CDC data projects that 95.4% of COVID-19 cases as of January 1 are fueled by the variant.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant is now estimated to make up a staggering 95% of recent COVID-19 cases in the US, the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated.

The CDC projected that 95.4% of COVID-19 cases as of January 1 were fueled by the Omicron variant, compared to 4.6% of Delta variant cases.

Omicron's estimated dominance was up from 77% on December 25, the CDC's estimates indicated.

The US on Monday recorded over 1 million COVID-19 cases, Johns Hopkins University data indicated — obliterating the previous record for new cases in a day.

Cases across the country are surging, and hospitals in several states are in danger of being overwhelmed.