WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - For the second consecutive day, new coronavirus cases in the United States fell below the 100,000 mark.
With 86,646 additional people diagnosed with the viral infection on Monday, the total U.S. cases rose to 27097106, as per data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. This is the lowest since October 27.
Cases have continued to decline over the last four weeks. An average of 119,900 new cases were reported between January 31 and February 6. That is a drop of nearly 20 percent from the previous week, but still dramatically higher than the last summer's peak.
With 1465 new deaths, the national total rose to 465072.
As of Sunday, 80,055 COVID patients are in hospitals. Out of this, 16,174 patients are admitted in Intensive Care Units. This is the lowest since November 19, according to COVID Tracking Project.
The number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 has dropped by 21000 in 10 days. In the last week, hospitalizations have decreased by 10 percent or more in 40 states, according to the U.S. collaborative volunteer-run effort to track the pandemic.
New COVID-19 hospital admissions also continued to decline. An average of 9,977 admissions per day were reported between January 30 and February 5, a fall of nearly 17 percent from the earlier week.
The national average positivity rate fell below 7 percentage after several weeks. Out of nearly 1.40 million people who were tested for coronavirus on Monday, only 6.93 percent were diagnosed with the disease.
Despite the drop in cases, there are signs of increases in some states such as Montana.
Although hospital admissions and cases are consistently dropping, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged everyone to keep their guard up. 'The continued proliferation of variants remains of great concern and is a threat that could reverse the recent positive trends we are seeing,' she said at a White House briefing.
Speaking alongside her, Dr Anthony Fauci said that as of February 7, a total of 699 variant cases have been confirmed across 34 U.S. states. Almost all of these cases are the B117 strand, first reported in the UK.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview Sunday with 'Axios on HBO' that the Biden administration is considering a rule requiring people to possess Covid-19 negative test results to be allowed to domestic air travel.
On Monday, the New Orleans Veteran Affairs department said it delivered its 20,000th dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 111-year-old Lawrence Brooks.
As communities are being vaccinated across the country, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris virtually toured State Farm Stadium, a COVID-19 vaccination site in Glendale, Arizona.
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