One in five Americans infected with COVID-19: Johns Hopkins University

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- About one in five Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

A total of over 66,000,000 COVID-19 cases were reported across the United States as of Tuesday, which is about one fifth of the U.S. population.

Over 851,000 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the country as of Tuesday.

The United States has witness a new COVID-19 surge since mid-December due to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

The country is now averaging nearly 800,000 new COVID-19 cases and nearly 1,800 new deaths each day, up significantly week by week, according to the latest data of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.