(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) The cumulative number of new cases in the United States in 7 days exceeds 5.5 million. The White House accelerates the supply of testing
China News Agency, Washington, January 14 (Reporter Chen Mengtong) According to data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States on the 14th, the cumulative number of newly confirmed cases in the United States in the past 7 days exceeded 5.5 million, and the average daily death cases in the 7 days reached 1,717.
The continuous surge of epidemic data shows that the new coronavirus variant Omicron strain is still spreading rapidly in the United States. In response to this round of the epidemic, the Biden administration has recently adjusted its epidemic prevention strategy, increased the supply of virus detection reagents, and began to encourage people to wear highly protective masks such as N95.
The White House announced on the 14th a specific plan to strengthen the detection of the new crown virus, announcing that Americans can log on to a special website to apply for rapid testing reagents for free from January 19, and each household is limited to 4 copies.
Senior White House officials said at a briefing on the same day that these rapid test kits are recommended for the public to use in three situations, including “symptoms of the new crown, after being in close contact for at least 5 days, or having been in an indoor gathering place where there is a risk of infection.”
January 20 is the first anniversary of the Biden administration, and the White House has announced that Biden will hold a press conference on the 19th. American public opinion believes that considering that the distribution cycle of these testing reagents will take at least 7 to 12 days, the White House’s new round of epidemic prevention measures is likely to “lack” to deal with the soaring epidemic.
Data shows that as of 21:00 on the 14th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new crowns in the United States has exceeded 64.897 million, and the number of deaths is approaching 850,000.
The “Washington Post” analyzed the epidemic data and said that with the accelerated spread of the Omicron strain, the hot spots of the epidemic in the United States have gradually shifted from the northeast and central regions to the western and midwestern states. Currently, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Arizona have the highest increases in new cases per capita.
At least 14 members of Congress have tested positive for the new coronavirus in the past week, according to the US “Capitol Hill”. There have been at least 50 cases of breakthrough infections among U.S. congressmen since last summer, more than half of which occurred after mid-December.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the week ended January 8, the proportion of newly infected cases in Omicron in the United States had risen to 98.3%.
On the 14th, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also updated the guidelines for the prevention of new coronary pneumonia, deleting words such as “worry about supply shortages”, and making it clear that people can wear N95 and KN95 masks appropriately for better protection. The New York Times pointed out that due to the high contagiousness of the Omicron strain, experts have repeatedly urged the Biden administration to encourage people to use more protective masks. This is the U.S. official’s “most clear guidance so far” on wearing highly protective masks such as N95.
Biden announced a few days ago that the “whole government” mobilized to respond to the outbreak caused by the Omicron strain. He said plans to provide free high-quality masks to Americans will be announced next week. (Finish)
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