The overall number of global coronavirus cases is fast approaching 295 million, with the new Covid strain Omicron showing a spike in the number of hospitalisations.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 294,997,968 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,456,314 Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 57,048,792 cases so far and more than 830,067 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
As the super-contagious Omicron variant rages across the US, new Covid-19 cases per day have more than tripled over the past two weeks, reaching a record-shattering average of 480,000. Schools, hospitals and airlines are struggling as infected workers go into isolation, reports AP.
Meanwhile, hospital admissions averaged 14,800 per day last week, up 63 per cent from the week before, but still short of the peak of 16,500 per day a year ago, when the vast majority of the US was unvaccinated. Deaths have been stable over the past two weeks at an average of about 1,200 per day, well below the all-time high of 3,400 last January.
Omicron accounted for 95 per cent of new coronavirus infections in the US last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday, in another indication of how astonishingly fast the variant has spread since it was first detected in South Africa in late November.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 22,328,252 cases as of Tuesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 619,654.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,960,261 on Tuesday, with 37,379 new confirmed cases registered in 24 hours in the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
The ministry also reported 124 more deaths due to the pandemic, taking the total coronavirus toll to 482,017.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 775 more Covid-19 infections with six more deaths linked to the virus in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
The country’s daily cases crossed 700 last on October 6, 2021, with the logging of 703 cases and 23 deaths.
With the detection of fresh cases after testing 19,740 samples, the daily case positivity rose to 3.91 per cent from Monday’s 3.37 per cent during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,087 while the caseload mounted to 15,87,915.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
Besides, the recovery rate further declined to 97.61 per cent with the recovery of 185 more patients during the 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases stood at 10 with the detection of three cases on Friday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
Restrictions
Amid the rise in the Omicorn variant of Covid-19 cases worldwide, the directorate issued a 15-point guideline to prevent the highly transmittable African variant of the virus.
“Public buses will operate at half of their capacities while shops and shopping malls will have to be closed by 8 pm instead of 10:00pm,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Tuesday while talking to reporters at the Secretariat.
Deputy commissioners have been asked to enforce the directives within seven days, he added.
However, the government is not considering any complete lockdown in the country right now and it will think about it if the infection rate goes up further, the minister had said.
