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US COVID-19 cases surpass 100m – Johns Hopkins University

Seventh and eighth grades students attend a combined Advanced Engineering class at Olive Vista Middle School on the first day back following the winter break amid a dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases across Los Angeles County on Jan 11, 2022 in Sylmar, California.  (FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES – The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 100 million on Tuesday, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.

US COVID-19 case count rose to 100,002,248, with a total of 1,088,218 deaths, as of 5:21 pm Eastern Time (22:21 GMT), showed the data.

US COVID-19 caseload reached 50 million on Dec 13, 2021, crossed 60 million on Jan 9, 2022, exceeded 70 million on Jan 21, topped 80 million on March 29, and surpassed 90 million on July 21

California topped the state-level caseload list, with more than 11.6 million cases. Texas confirmed the second most cases of about 8.1 million, followed by Florida with more than 7.3 million cases and New York with over 6.5 million cases.

The United States remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, accounting for more than 15 percent of the global caseload and more than 16 percent of the global deaths.

US COVID-19 caseload reached 50 million on Dec 13, 2021, crossed 60 million on Jan 9, 2022, exceeded 70 million on Jan 21, topped 80 million on March 29, and surpassed 90 million on July 21. 

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Meanwhile, US pharmacies CVS and Walgreens are limiting purchases of children's pain-relief medications amid a winter "tripledemic" of respiratory viruses.

CVS said in a statement it is restricting both in-person and online purchases of two children's pain relief products.

Walgreens has also limited online purchases of six over-the-counter fever reducers per transaction.

"Due to increased demand and various supplier challenges, over-the-counter pediatric fever reducing products are seeing constraint across the country," Walgreens said in a statement.

The US Consumer Healthcare Products Association said sales of pediatric pain relievers are up 65 percent from this time last year.

The country continues to see a surge in respiratory illnesses among young children, including COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus. 

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Separately, new Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for about 70 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the United States in the latest week, according to the latest estimates of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

BQ.1.1 was estimated to make up about 38.4 percent of circulating variants in the week ending Dec 17, and BQ.1 was estimated to make up 30.7 percent, according to CDC data.