Global COVID case count crosses a whopping 300 million amid Omicron spike

Amid the surge of Omicron cases across the globe, a recent assessment from Johns Hopkins University on Thursday revealed that the total number of COVID-19 instances which have been recorded worldwide have topped 300 million. According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, the overall number of global cases documented so far has risen to 302,588,049, resulting in approximately 5.5 million virus-related deaths globally. 

In the previous week alone, 13.5 million instances were reported throughout the world, up by 64% over the preceding seven days. Simultaneously, the world average of mortality fell by 3% in the last week, confirming indications that omicron produces less severe sickness than other forms, DW News reported. Furthermore, according to France's public health authorities, the probability of omicron-related hospitalisation is roughly 70% lower. 

Even though studies show that the 'highly mutated' Omicron strain seems to be less severe than the previous COVID-19 variants, experts predict that the spread of Omicron will overburden health systems throughout the world due to the significant volume of cases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Omicron appears to cause less serious sickness than Delta, however, it should not be classified as "mild".

Global COVID-19 tally

Meanwhile, approximately 32 million additional instances have been verified in the last 28 days, with the United States accounting for roughly a quarter of that total, which is around 8.8 million instances. As per Johns Hopkins statistics, the United Kingdom and France are the next-closest countries in terms of COVID-19 infections, with roughly 3.4 million and nearly 3.1 million fresh infections recorded in the last 28 days, respectively.  

To respond to an increase in Omicron instances in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the nation's 16 state premiers have decided to impose further limitations. On Friday, India reported 117,100 new daily cases, which is a five-fold rise in only one week.

Further, the fast-spreading Omicron strain has fueled this increase, which is considered to be the highest in the nation in over seven months. Thailand has also extended the term of its quarantine waiver programme and added new limitations in response to an increase in new coronavirus infections. 

In addition to this, the Sri Lankan government has started immunising youngsters aged 12 to 15 as specialists predicted a new wave of illnesses in the upcoming days. Japan has announced quasi-emergency measures in three areas to combat an outbreak of diseases related to US military posts in the nation. 

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