Amid a global scare over the new Omicron strain of Covid-19, the overall number of global coronavirus cases is inching closer to 298 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 297,504,250 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,464,532 Thursday morning.
The US has recorded 57,649,131 cases so far and more than 832,061 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
Hospitals across the US are feeling the wrath of the Omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier Covid-19 surges, reports AP.
This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many healthcare workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for Covid-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patients — two-thirds in some places — are testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons.
At the same time, hospitals say the patients aren’t as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units aren’t as full, and ventilators aren’t needed as much as they were before.
About 85,000 Americans are in hospital with Covid-19, just short of the Delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 22,328,252 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 619,654.
India's federal health ministry Wednesday recorded the first death linked to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The death has been recorded in the western state of Rajasthan's Udaipur district.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 35,018,358 on Wednesday, as 58,097 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the health ministry's latest data.
Besides, as many as 534 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 482,551.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 892 more Covid-19 infections with three more deaths linked to it in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
The country’s daily cases crossed 800 last on October 1, 2021, with the logging of 847 cases and 21 deaths.
With the detection of fresh cases after testing 21,302 samples, the daily case positivity rose to 4.20% from Tuesday’s 3.91 per cent during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,090 while the caseload mounted to 15,88,807.
Meanwhile, the recovery rate further declined to 97.57 per cent with the recovery of 212 more patients during the 24-hour period.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
Besides, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases stood at 10 with detection of three cases on Friday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28, 2021.