Online Desk :
The overall number of Covid cases has surged past 264 million amid the global scare over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 264,130,163 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,233,846 Friday morning.
Omicron raised alarm because of its sheer number of mutations, more than prior variants had. Possibly 30 are in a key place, the spike protein that lets the virus attach to human cells, reports AP.
The US has recorded 48,832,302 cases to date and more than 785,907 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
The US recorded its first confirmed case of the Omicron variant Wednesday — in a vaccinated traveller who returned to California after a trip to South Africa — as scientists around the world race to establish whether the new, mutant version of the coronavirus is more dangerous than previous ones, reports AP.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert, announced the finding at the White House.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,118,782 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 615,225.
Brazil on Wednesday reported its third case of Omicron, after a Brazilian national who arrived from eastern Africa over the weekend tested positive.
India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,609,741 on Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 469,724.
India Thursday reported its first two known Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant, discovered in two men aged 46 and 66, respectively, in the southern state of Karnataka, Indian Health Ministry’s joint secretary Lav Agarwal told the media in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that 23 countries across the world have reported cases of the highly mutated Omicron Covid-19 variant.
