Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The number of people in the United States hospitalized with COVID-19 hit a new record Tuesday, according to government data.
Figures from the Department of Health and Human Services show over 145,980 people were hospitalized with the virus as of Tuesday evening.
That figure surpasses the previous record of 142,246 hospitalizations set in January 2021, according to a CNN analysis.
The HHS tracks data from more than 5,400 hospitals across the country.
More than 77.5% of inpatient beds were in use on Tuesday. More than 20.5% of inpatient hospital beds were occupied by 555,883 COVID-19 patients. That number is up from 18.2% of inpatient hospital beds on Sunday.
The rise in hospitalizations is due to the surging and highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
The country is also averaging more than 700,000 new cases a day, while almost 700 children age 17 years and younger in the United States are being hospitalized each day due to COVID-19.
The country has averaged 1,646 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past week.
