US becomes first country in world to ‘officially’ hit 100m Covid cases

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US becomes first country in world to officially hit 100m Covid cases throughout pandemic — amid reports China suffered 250m last month alone

  • Latest data show cumulative US cases hit nine figures on December 21
  • India has the second-highest infection count – but far lower at 44million
  • Raw case number does not account for population – which would make US 58th

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America has become the first country to officially reach the milestone of 100million Covid infections – in what is likely a vast underestimate.

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that cumulative US cases hit nine figures on December 21.

India has the second-highest infection count at just 44million, according to the research database OurWorldInData, followed by France at 39million.

But the raw number of cases does not account for population size. When that is factored in, the US ranks just 58th worldwide.

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that cumulative US cases hit nine figures on December 21. India has the second-highest infection count at just 44million, according to the research database OurWorldInData , followed by France at 39million

Cumulative US Covid cases hit 100million on December 21 – making America the first country to surpass nine figures

The raw number does not factor in population size and is riddled with caveats – such as the US doing far more testing than most countries in the world. Here, the graph shows how the US has tamed its outbreak

Comparing Covid cases between countries is difficult because of the different testing and data collection approaches.

Only China has carried out more tests than the US — around 9 billion and 900 million, respectively.

But Beijing and places like Russia have been accused of suppressing case numbers to mask the fact that authoritarian regimes have struggled to contain outbreaks.

Dr John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said the US hitting 100million cases was a significant moment.

But he added it was likely a severe undercount because of the huge swathes of Americans who do not test or who are asymptomatic.

Dr Brownstein told ABC: ‘Obviously it’s a milestone that signifies the sheer amount of transmission that has occurred around this virus and the population burden that we have faced.

‘At the same time, we recognize that reported cases are absolutely a massive undercount — at the beginning of the pandemic where testing was nonexistent to the shift to home testing where a significant proportion of cases has gone unreported.

‘I think we know that a large majority of the population has already been infected with COVID,’ Brownstein said. ‘And so, this number only represents a fraction of all the cases. [The milestone] was very likely hit many months ago.’  

The US’ official case number, 100.7m, indicates that around one in three Americans have had the virus at least once.

Yet a CDC study from April 2022 estimated that 60 percent of the country had been infected with the virus. The official case count does not distinguish between repeated infections.

The 100m case mark comes as pandemic policies begin to creep back into daily life in America.

Hundreds of thousands of students across the US will be forced to wear them in class when schools go back today, as controversial mandates make a return.

Despite Covid infection rates plateauing for months, elementary and high schools in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have made face coverings a condition of entry for students returning from the holidays.

Education officials claim the policy is to prevent a boom in respiratory illnesses after increased mixing during the first normal Christmas and New Year in years. 

But there is little evidence that face masks actually reduce infection rates, and mounting research shows the mandates stunted children’s social development and education, and robbed them of vital immunity to other seasonal bugs like flu and RSV.

The government also announced last week that all passengers from China would be tested upon entry, despite no proof that policy works either. 

COVID CASES AROUND THE WORLD (RAW NUMBER VS PER MILLION POPULATION)

  1. United States 100,759,251
  2. India 44,680,180
  3. France 39,373,160
  4. Germany 37,410,650
  5. Brazil 36,362,366
  6. Japan 29,397,865
  7. South Korea 29,220,591
  8. Italy 25,143,705
  9. United Kingdom 24,135,084
  10. Russia 21,499,362
  11. Turkey 17,042,722
  12. Spain 13,684,258
  13. Vietnam 11,525,336
  14. Australia 11,132,933
  15. Argentina 9,963,697
  16. Taiwan 8,889,346
  17. Netherlands 8,580,083
  18. Iran 7,561,309
  19. Mexico 7,234,467
  20. Indonesia 6,720,443
  21. Poland 6,368,749
  22. Colombia 6,336,660
  23. Austria 5,709,405
  24. Ukraine 5,662,807
  25. Portugal 5,554,058
  26. Greece 5,548,487
  27. Chile 5,044,258
  28. Malaysia 5,027,457
  29. Israel 4,765,806
  30. Thailand 4,723,919
  31. Belgium 4,668,248
  32. Czechia 4,580,077
  33. Canada 4,506,199
  34. Peru 4,460,100
  35. Switzerland 4,399,516
  36. Philippines 4,065,173
  37. South Africa 4,049,366
  38. Denmark 3,385,836
  39. Romania 3,312,085
  40. Sweden 2,674,862
  41. Hong Kong 2,669,224
  42. Slovakia 2,657,398
  43. Iraq 2,465,390
  44. Serbia 2,447,387
  45. Singapore 2,203,146
  46. Hungary 2,185,816
  47. New Zealand 2,094,899
  48. Bangladesh 2,037,156
  49. China 1,909,905
  50. Georgia 1,808,820
  1. Cyprus 704,359
  2. San Marino 687,919
  3. Faeroe Islands 652,484
  4. Austria 638,663
  5. Gibraltar 620,467
  6. Slovenia 617,010
  7. Andorra 598,061
  8. Brunei 594,249
  9. France 580,614
  10. Denmark 575,601
  11. Saint Pierre and Miquelon 569,074
  12. South Korea 563,932
  13. Iceland 557,716
  14. Portugal 540,759
  15. Liechtenstein 540,617
  16. Greece 534,280
  17. Latvia 526,325
  18. Falkland Islands 507,761
  19. Israel 504,371
  20. Switzerland 503,350
  21. Netherlands 488,503
  22. Georgia 483,075
  23. Luxembourg 481,386
  24. Bahrain 474,685
  25. Slovakia 470,881
  26. Seychelles 470,014
  27. Lithuania 468,529
  28. Estonia 461,434
  29. Cayman Islands 457,961
  30. Montenegro 454,159
  31. Isle of Man 449,618
  32. Germany 448,731
  33. Monaco 437,039
  34. Czechia 436,448
  35. Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba 433,092
  36. Italy 425,894
  37. Australia 425,288
  38. Aruba 410,975
  39. New Zealand 404,008
  40. Saint Helena 401,037
  41. Belgium 400,504
  42. Singapore 390,835
  43. Cook Islands 375,117
  44. Barbados 374,637
  45. Marshall Islands 373,957
  46. Taiwan 372,042
  47. Nauru 364,116
  48. United Kingdom 357,509
  49. Hong Kong 356,426
  50. Serbia 356,162

 

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