The world has hit a new record number of COVID-19 cases in a single week, according to one tally, with daily infections also reaching new highs in the United States, Australia and several European countries amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
More than 935,000 cases on average have been detected each day between December 22 and 28, according to the tally published by the AFP news agency on Wednesday. In total, 6.51 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide in the past week.
The latest figures, the highest since cases were first recorded at the end of 2019, are based on the numbers provided daily by the health authorities in each country.
The coronavirus is wreaking havoc in many parts of the world as it mutates, forcing governments to rethink quarantine and test rules.
Although some studies have suggested the Omicron variant is less deadly than some previous strains, the huge numbers of people testing positive mean that hospitals in some countries might soon be overwhelmed, while businesses might struggle to carry on operating because of workers having to quarantine.
“Delta and Omicron are now twin threats driving up cases to record numbers, leading to spikes in hospitalisation and deaths,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing on Wednesday.
“I am highly concerned that Omicron, being highly transmissible and spreading at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases.”
French Health Minister Olivier Veran told legislators on Wednesday France was seeing a “dizzying” rise in cases, with 208,000 reported in the space of 24 hours – a national and European record.
On Tuesday, Britain, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal registered record numbers of new cases.
In the United Kingdom, there has also been a record number of children having to be treated in hospitals.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that 90 percent of patients ending up in intensive care had not received booster vaccines, which medics say is the best protection against the infectious Omicron.
Those who have not been vaccinated are “eight times more likely to get into hospital”, he warned.
Meanwhile, the average number of daily COVID-19 cases in the US hit a record 258,312 over the past seven days, according to a Reuters news agency tally on Wednesday. The previous peak was a figure of 250,141 registered in early January, this year.
New daily infections in Australia on Wednesday spiked to nearly 18,300, eclipsing the previous pandemic high of approximately 11,300 hit a day earlier.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country needed “a gear change” to manage overburdened laboratories, with long walk-in and drive-in queues reported in a number of states.
Testing bottlenecks have also grown in European nations, including in Spain where demand for free COVID-19 testing kits provided by Madrid’s regional government far outstripped supply on Tuesday, with long queues forming outside pharmacies.
