Record 1.35M new COVID-19 cases recorded in US

The U.S. recorded 1.35 million new COVID-19 cases on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, shattering the record for most coronavirus infections reported in one day.

Monday’s case count broke the previous record set on Jan. 3, when 1.03 million cases were reported, the news service noted. Mondays typically see a large number of new COVID-19 cases because some states do not report data over the weekend.

The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases has reportedly skyrocketed as well, tripling to more than 700,000 new daily cases over the past two weeks.

Hospitalizations are also up. More than 136,600 individuals were hospitalized with the virus on Monday, which is the highest number seen since 132,051 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in January of last year, according to Reuters.

The high case load comes as the highly transmissible omicron variant spreads widely through the U.S. While early data suggests that omicron cases are less severe in vaccinated individuals compared to previous strains of the virus, the large number of cases still risks overwhelming hospital systems.

Deaths, though, remain lower than during previous waves of the virus.

The air travel industry felt the effect of the COVID-19 surge over the holiday season. Worker shortages at a number of airlines due to COVID-19 caused thousands of flights to be get canceled.