Online Desk :
The overall number of global Covid cases has now surpassed 268 million amid the Omicron-driven surge in several countries.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 268,484,455 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,286,785 Friday morning.
The US has recorded 49,660,358 cases to date, while more than 794,647 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
New cases in the US climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on November 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalisations are up 25% from a month ago. The increases are due almost entirely to the Delta variant, though the Omicron mutation has been detected in about 20 states and is sure to spread even more, reports AP.
Deaths are running close to 1,600 a day on average, back up to where they were in October. And the overall US death toll less than two years into the crisis could hit another heartbreaking milestone, 800,000, in a matter of days.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, has registered 22,177,059 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 616,504.
India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,674,408 on Thursday, as 8,167 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry.
Besides, 1,279 deaths from the pandemic since Wednesday morning took the total death toll to 474,390.
