U.S. reports record child COVID-19 hospitalizations

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has hit record high due to the Omicron-fueled surge.

During the week of Dec. 22-28, an average of 378 children aged 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals, up by 66.1 percent from the week before, according to data updated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.

It has set a new record for child hospitalizations with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country.

So far, over 7.5 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, representing one in 10 American children, according to a latest report of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

COVID-19 cases among U.S. children are "extremely high and increasing", according to the report.

For the week ending Dec. 23, almost 199,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported, up by 50 percent on a weekly basis from the beginning of December. This marked the 20th consecutive week that child COVID-19 cases have topped 100,000.

It has been three consecutive days that daily COVID-19 cases in the United States hit nearly half a million, according to data updated on the CDC website on Thursday.

More than 486,000 new cases were reported nationwide on Wednesday, the highest daily count of any country worldwide during the pandemic.