The coronavirus pandemic is, once again, raging in Western countries. With Omicron – the new variant detected less than a month ago – rapidly spreading across the world, Europe and the United States are seeing a steep rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. Europe, as per an Al Jazeera report, is widely viewed as being a precursor to global trends in the pandemic and is imposing new lockdowns as several countries are recording sky-high rates of new infections. The UK recorded a stunning 91,743 new Covid-19 cases on December 20.
In the US, Omicron is now the dominant strain, accounting for about 73.2 percent of the cases over the second week of December. The UK recorded a stunning 91,743 new Covid-19 cases on December 20.
While 87 countries have reported more cases in the past two weeks compared with the previous 14 days, India in contrast has been registering record-low cases over the past few weeks.
On December 21, the country recorded 5,326 new cases of coronavirus infections, the lowest in 581 days. The active cases also declined to 79,097, the lowest in 574 days. Although Omicron has been detected in about 200 cases the country as of today, the daily positivity rate has been less than 2 percent for over two months.
The active cases have declined to 79,097 comprising 0.23 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.40 per cent, the highest since March 2020, Union Health Ministry said.
Experts, however, are mulling the possibility of a mild third wave by the end of January or February, led by the Delta-Omicron variant mix. “The Omicron variant is not seen to have caused severe infection anywhere till now. Although the Delta variant could cause severe symptoms, with a large number of people having been vaccinated, even in cases of vaccine breakthrough the severity of infection will be mild. That way, we can also expect hospitalisation to be low in the possible third wave,” Dr Jagadish Hiremath, Chairman, Aasra Hospital, was quoted by The New Indian Express as saying.
One reason for the low number of cases could be that the variant dominating cases is still Delta and not Omicron. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on December 18 said that the delta variant of coronavirus is still the dominant strain circulating among infections in India and Omicron has not replaced it yet, meaning that the current Covid-19 measures and vaccines would remain effective.
While Omicron cases may increase, it will necessarily not cause a heavy burden on the healthcare system, Dr Samiran Panda, additional director-general of ICMR told the Times of India.
A look at places registering a rise in Covid-19 cases:
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said the Cabinet was monitoring COVID-19 data hour by hour as the country recorded another record high of daily coronavirus infections at 91,743. Speaking after a lengthy Cabinet meeting, Johnson told reporters that the government won’t hesitate to introduce tougher lockdown measures ahead of Christmas amid an ongoing surge in coronavirus cases. But he declared that some things need to be clearer around the Omicron variant before further action is taken.
“Unfortunately, I must say to people that we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public, to protect public health, to protect our NHS,” said Johnson.
United States
Coronavirus cases are up 16 percent in the US compared to last week, and hospitalisations have increased by 5 percent. Meanwhile, deaths have decreased by 2.4 percent, according to a Guardian report. As holiday season approaches, when many Americans are expected to travel and hold large family gatherings, officials are worried that the country will once again begin to see a rapid spread of new infections, overwhelming hospitals, the report said.
Omicron is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the US, accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week.
In much of the country, it’s even higher. Omicron is responsible for an estimated 90% or more of new infections in the New York area, the Southeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. The national rate suggests that more than 650,000 omicron infections occurred in the U.S. last week.
Netherlands
Cases of Omicron surged since it was first found in the Netherlands three weeks ago, while hospitals are struggling with the large numbers of Covid-19 patients in their wards, near the highest levels this year. The country on December 19 reported 14,616 new infections over the 24 hours.
PM Mark Rutte announced that the country will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the spread of the new variant.
All non-essential shops and services, including restaurants, hairdressers, museums and gyms will be closed from Sunday until January 14. All schools will be shut until at least January 9.
Australia
New Covid-19 cases in Australia’s most populous state surged past 3,000 on Tuesday for the first time, adding pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to speed the rollout of booster shots. New South Wales state reported a record 3,057 new coronavirus cases and two deaths over the past 24 hours. There were 284 people in hospitals, up from 261 a day earlier, and 39 in intensive care units, up from 33.
“We’re not going back to lockdowns. We’re going forward to live with this virus with common sense and responsibility,” PM Morrison said despite a surge in Omicron cases.
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