Omicron cases likely to peak by end of January: Anthony Fauci

Washington: Cases involving the coronavirus Omicron variant will likely peak by the end of January, presidential medical adviser Anthony Fauci said.

“I would imagine, given the size of our country and the diversity of vaccination versus no vaccination, that it likely will be more than a couple of weeks, probably by the end of January, I would think,” Fauci told CNBC said on Wednesday in response to a question about when the coronavirus cases will peak in the United States.

On Tuesday, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided data showing that the Omicron variant accounted for 58.6% of all new infections in the United States in the week ending on December 25.

The Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa in November, is said by public health officials to be more transmissible but produces milder cases.

The current seven-day daily average of cases in the United States is about 240,400 per day, an increase of about 60 per cent over the previous week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday.