With surging new cases and strict restrictions back in place, the global fight against COVID-19 has grown tougher after the Christmas and New Year holidays. As of Tuesday, global cases have reached 85,653,549 with over 1.8 million deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. DIFFERENT HOLIDAYS The Christmas and New Year holidays, a time of family reunions, travel and shopping, have been overshadowed by a sustained record-breaking COVID-19 surge. COVID-19 infections in the United States hit a new grim milestone of 20 million on New Year's Day, an increase of 10 million cases in less than two months. The CBSLA news channel reported that hospitals across the Los Angeles and other counties in Southern California had been stretched to their limits, as the county's seven-day daily positivity rate increased from 18.2 percent on Christmas Day to 21.5 percent on New Year's Day.