US, European countries record highest numbers amid Omicron spread

The US and several European countries have reported their highest daily rises in COVID cases since the pandemic began, as the Omicron variant spreads.France also reported a record rise in single-day infections. More than a year after the vaccine was rolled out, new cases of Covid-19 in the US have soared to their highest level on record at over 265,000 per day on average, a surge driven largely by the highly contagious omicron variant. New cases per day have more than doubled over the past two weeks, eclipsing the old mark of 250,000, set in mid-January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.The fast-spreading mutant version of the virus has cast a pall over Christmas and New Year’s, forcing communities to scale back or call off their festivities just weeks after it seemed as if Americans were about to enjoy an almost normal holiday season. Thousands of flights have been canceled amid staffing shortages blamed on the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious-disease expert, said Wednesday that there is no need to cancel small home gatherings among vaccinated and boosted family and friends. According to a report published by the WHO, the number of new COVID infections of all variants grew by 57 per cent in Europe in the week before 26th of December and by 30 per cent in America.

France is seeing a "tsunami" of Covid-19 infections, with 2,08,000 cases reported over the past 24 hours, a new national and European record, Health Minister Olivier Veran told lawmakers on Wednesday. France has been breaking infection records repeatedly over the past few days, with Tuesday's 180,000 cases already the highest for a country in Europe, according to data on Covidtracker.fr. This means that 24 hours a day, day and night, every second in our country, two French people are diagnosed positive," Veran said. "We have never experienced such a situation," he said, describing the increase in cases as "dizzying".

A number of other European countries also reported record daily cases. Infections in Italy topped 78,000 cases, hitting a new record since the start of the pandemic. It also recorded 202 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 1,36,753. Portugal recorded 17,172 new cases. Greece Health Minister Thanos Plevris called for calm after the country reported 21,657 cases. Health authorities in England reported a record 1,17,093 cases. Full UK-wide COVID data has been unavailable over the Christmas period.While a number of cities - including Paris, London and Berlin - have cancelled official New Year's celebrations, some governments have been less willing to bring in nationwide restrictions.