The Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is estimated to have taken over Delta as the most prevalent strain contributing to new COVID-19 infections, accounting for 58.6 percent of all strains actively circulating in the United States as of Dec. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, as it drastically revised an earlier projection of new Omicron infections. CDC officials significantly reduced estimates for the week ending Dec. 18 that had erroneously indicated a nearly six-fold increase in Omicron’s share of infections in only one week. The figures showed that the newly detected variant accounted for roughly 73 percent of new infections nationwide. Federal officials cited those figures to announce that the Omicron variant had become the dominant source of new infections in the United States. The agency has now revised down the Omicron proportion of cases for the week ending Dec. 18 to 22.5 percent from 73.2 percent, …