Online Desk :
The overall number of Covid cases has now surpassed 491 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 491,352,180 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,152,703 Monday morning.
The US has recorded 80,155,397 cases so far and 982,565 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
The prevalence of COVID-19 in the U.K. has reached record levels, with about 1 in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus in the past week, according to the latest figures from Britain’s official statistics agency, reports AP.
Some 4.9 million people were estimated to have the coronavirus in the week ending March 26, up from 4.3 million recorded in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the U.K.
Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year. Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, has continued well into March.
India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 43,028,131 on Sunday, as 1,096 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data.
Besides, as many as 81 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 521,345.
