Top U.S. health officials defended the government's response to the unrelenting pandemic as daily COVID-19 cases reached a new high, largely fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant
Biden, who has been accused of focusing on vaccinations at the expense of testing and support for struggling healthcare systems, told reporters on Tuesday he was "confident we're on the right track" to fight the pandemic.
"I don't think prior approaches reflect what's going on right now. I think it's hard to process what's actually happening right now, which is most people are going to get COVID," she told a Senate committee hearing. "And what we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens. I think after that will be a good time to reassess how we're approaching this pandemic.
The United States reported 1.35 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total for any country in the world. Omicron was estimated to account for 98.3% of total new coronavirus cases circulating in the country as of Jan. 8, the CDC said Tuesday. The Omicron surge led to a tense standoff between city officials and the union representing most of the city's public school teachers that canceled classes for a week.
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