*The White House orders the health insurance companies will be required to reimburse consumers who purchase a COVID-19 test outside their network for as much as $12 per test

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

There are indications that the Omicron variant is not only causing cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to increase at a record rate, but it has also sent hospitalisations to a record high.

绿帽献妻 gathered the United States (US) reported over 142,000 patients being treated for the virus in hospitals Monday, January 10, 2022, the figured adjudged as the the highest at any time amid the damaging pandemic.

COVID-19 hospitalisation in the US

Some health experts, however, said the record number of patients suggests that the highly transmissible Omicron variant is not less severe than other variants, at least when it infects people who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

New York University epidemiologist C茅line Gounder told New York magazine that 鈥淚 think people have fixated on this idea that it鈥檚 mild.

鈥淢ild means mild 鈥� relatively mild 鈥� for the individual who鈥檚 infected. But it does not necessarily mean mild at a population level.鈥�

White House directs insurance companies to pay for COVID-19 tests

In a related development, the Joe Biden administration has ordered health insurance providers to cover the cost of up to eight at-home COVID-19 tests per person, its latest effort to increase Americans鈥� access to testing.

It was not immediately clear whether that plan was connected to the administration’s earlier pledge to make 500 million tests available to the public at no charge, report said.

The White House, nonetheless, said that the first contracts havd been signed with the test manufacturers.

Under the insurance provider mandate, the White House stated the health insurance companies would be required to reimburse consumers who purchase a COVID-19 test outside their network for as much as $12 per test.

Meanwhile, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) 鈥宼ally鈥� 鈥宎s鈥� 鈥屸�宑ompiled鈥屸�� 鈥宐y鈥� 鈥孞ohns鈥� 鈥孒opkins鈥� 鈥孶niversity, showed total鈥� 鈥宑onfirmed鈥� 鈥孋OVID-19 cases at鈥� 61,652,393 with 鈥宼otal鈥� 鈥屸�宒eaths estimated at 839,936 in the United States.

On the worldwide level, there are total鈥� 鈥実lobal鈥� 鈥宑ases of 310,981,515 while the total鈥� 鈥実lobal鈥� 鈥宒eaths recorded are 5,498,118 as of Tuesday, January 11, 2022.

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