U.S. Omicron cases to fall from east to west, says expert

COVID-19 infections nationally are down by 12% in the last seven days compared with the prior seven, the analysis found.

Cases have decreased in states such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, plus Washington, D.C.

Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University, said she expects the drop in cases to go from east to west across the US.

"I think we're beginning to see already peaking in the United States overall. But does that make that mean that we've peaked everywhere? The answer is no. That will be on a rolling basis across the country," she said.

The Reuters tally shows that nationally hospitalizations are now under 147,000, compared with a peak of 152,746 on January 20. But in many parts of the US infections continue to increase.