Child COVID-19 cases in the US have been rising since late June, according to a recent report. More than 1,21,000 new child cases were logged in the week ending August 12 in the US, "a continuing substantial increase," said the report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

As of August 12, more than 4.41 million children had tested positive in the country since the onset of the pandemic, representing 14.4 per cent of all cases, the Xinhua news agency reported. Children under the age of 12 have not been authorised to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the US.

Meanwhile, increasing COVID-19 cases, common viruses spreading again as people get together, and people who get injured when driving and playing sports have all added up to hospital pressure, the report said, narrating the story of an Oregon medical center "filled with unvaccinated patients" that had to postpone cancer patients' surgeries, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Double-digit growth in COVID-19 hospitalisations was recorded in 46 of the 50 US states in the week ending Tuesday, and eight states, including California and New York, added more than 400 new patients, the article said. The US logged 9,11,529 new cases in the week ending Sunday, and had not seen such a high weekly increase since the week ending January 31 with more than 1 million new infections, the report said.

More than 59 per cent of the US population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, with 50.9 per cent fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Doctors say the nationwide outbreak overwhelming hospitals could have been avoided had more people been immunised," the report said.