COVID-19 cases in Florida rise by 849 percent in a week

Florida has seen a significant rise in positive coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, as omicron continues to spread throughout the country. Between December 21 and January 3, new COVID-19 cases in Florida increased by 849 percent.

On Monday alone, Florida reported 85,707 new cases, making it the largest multi-day increase of newly reported cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The previous multi-day record was set last summer with 56,036 cases.

Hospitalizations have also been on the rise. Around 5,700 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published on Monday. Around 15,000 patients were hospitalized during the peak of the delta variant last summer.

Around 65 percent of Florida’s population is fully vaccinated against the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Cases around the U.S. have increased by more than 100 percent. Nearly 3.5 million positive cases were reported in the country over the last seven days, according to data from the CDC.

On Monday, the U.S. reached one million daily COVID-19 cases. Omicron accounts for 95 percent of the positive cases in the country, according to the CDC.

“I am highly concerned that omicron, being highly transmissible and spreading at the same time as delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” said the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom.