The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 55 million on Sunday, with nearly 6 million new coronavirus infections reported during the past 28 days.
By Sunday evening, U.S. COVID-19 cases totaled 55,069,347, and the nationwide death toll topped 826,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
The latest milestone comes as the newly dominant omicron variant of the coronavirus sweeps the nation and means that three million new cases have been diagnosed in the eight days since Christmas.
Meanwhile, global cases have swelled to nearly 290 million, resulting in more than 5.4 million virus-related fatalities worldwide.
India has recorded the second-highest cumulative nationwide cases with nearly 35 million, but the United Kingdom has confirmed nearly 2.7 million new cases within the past 28 days, trailing only the United States and followed closely by France with more than 2.3 million new cases confirmed during the same four-week period.
The latest figures mean that the United States’ new infection rate has officially surpassed its 2021 winter peak, when 1 million new cases were reported every four days, according to Johns Hopkins data.
California remains the hardest-hit U.S. state - with more than 5.5 million cumulative infections recorded to date - followed by Texas with nearly 4.6 million cases, Florida with more than 4.2 million cases and New York with nearly 3.6 million cases. Meanwhile, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio has each reported more than 2 million cumulative cases.
The following 12 other states have confirmed at least 1 million cases:
- Georgia: More than 1.8 million cases, resulting in more than 31,000 deaths.
- Michigan: More than 1.7 million cases, resulting in more than 29,000 deaths.
- North Carolina: Nearly 1.7 million cases, resulting in more than 19,000 deaths.
- New Jersey: More than 1.6 million cases, resulting in more than 29,000 deaths.
- Tennessee: More than 1.4 million cases, resulting in nearly 21,000 deaths.
- Arizona: Nearly 1.4 million cases, resulting in more than 24,000 deaths.
- Indiana: More than 1.2 million cases, resulting in more than 19,000 deaths.
- Massachusetts: More than 1.1 million cases, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths.
- Wisconsin: More than 1.1 million cases, resulting in more than 11,000 deaths.
- Virginia: More than 1.1 million cases, resulting in nearly 16,000 deaths.
- Minnesota: More than 1 million cases, resulting in nearly 11,000 deaths.
- Missouri: More than 1 million cases, resulting in more than 16,000 deaths.
Fourteen other states have reported at least half a million cases, including South Carolina, Colorado, Alabama, Kentucky, Washington, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Utah, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas and Connecticut.
The complete state-by-state tracker can be viewed on CNN.
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