An AFP tally revealed Wednesday that the world shattered a record number of COVID infections in a week, as the World Health Organization cautioned that Omicron posed a “very high” danger and might potentially overwhelm healthcare systems. The variant has now been identified in 108 countries, resulting in a new surge in cases and renewed restrictions in several parts of the world.
On Wednesday, the highly transmissible variety pushed the United States, France, and Denmark to new highs. According to the AFP tally, recorded illnesses increased by 37% over the previous seven days, reaching 6.55 million worldwide.
For the first time, France registered more than one lakh instances of the coronavirus over the weekend, according to AFP, citing health officials. In the last week, more than 1,000 individuals have died as a result of the illness. According to The Guardian, the country has reduced the time between the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and the booster shot to three weeks, down from the previously mandated four weeks.
The number of hospitalised patients in England increased by 74% in a week, reaching its highest level since mid-February. According to AFP, the number of daily Covid-19 instances documented in the United States over the previous week has grown to about 1,90,000 on average. Meanwhile, China has already closed down Xian because to an increase in Covid-19 cases. The city’s 13 million residents have been unable to leave their homes for a week and are completely reliant on deliveries of necessities.
The figures were the highest since the WHO declared a pandemic in March 2020, highlighting the fast-paced spread of Omicron, with tens of millions of people facing restrictions for the second year in a row, dampening New Year’s Eve celebrations. The rise, which is now greatest in Europe, is pushing governments to walk a fine line between implementing limitations to prevent hospitals from being overburdened and the need to keep businesses and societies open two years after the virus first appeared in late 2019.
