Global Covid cases near 320 million amid Omicron surge

Global Covid cases near 320 million amid Omicron surge

The overall number of Covid-19 cases is now fast approaching 320 million, with a spike in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across the world.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 319,871,018 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,520,282 on Friday morning.

The US has recorded 64,044,568 cases so far and 846,371 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 36,571,423 on Wednesday, as 253,496 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.

This was the second consecutive day when more than 200,000 new cases were registered in a day in the country in over eight months.

Besides, 380 more deaths were recorded since Wednesday morning, taking the death toll to 485,043.

Meanwhile, the country's Omicron tally has reached 5,488, in which Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi have reported 1,367, 792 and 549 cases, respectively. To date, 2,162 Omicron patients have been discharged after recovery, as per the data.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 12 more Covid-19 linked deaths and 3,359 more cases of infections in 24 hours till Thursday morning, as infections keep escalating in the country.

With the fresh cases reported after testing 27,486 samples, the daily positivity rate increased to 12.03% from Wednesday’s 11.68% during the 24-hour period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The country last logged 3,436 cases on September 2 last year, along with 88 deaths in 24 hours while the positivity rate was 10.40%.

The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,123, while the caseload mounted to 1,604,644 on Thursday.

Among the new deaths, six were men and six women.

Eight of them were reported from Dhaka division while one each died in Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Mymensingh divisions.

The mortality rate declined to 1.75% during the 24-hour period.

The recovery rate increased to 96.72%, with the recovery of 302 more patients during the 24-hour period.