The omicron wave appears to have intensified in some areas of the world, even as large economies push for a booster dose to prevent another Covid-19 wave. While daily cases in the UK have halved in two weeks, the omicron wave has reportedly peaked in Australia’s New South Wales and Victoria.
However, countries such as Japan are still seeing a high daily caseload as an increased number of restrictions have come into force.
Here are the top coronavirus-related developments around the world:
1. Daily Covid-19 cases in the United Kingdom have halved in the past two weeks. On Saturday, the UK reported 76,807 new Covid cases, a 54 per cent drop from the 176,191 cases detected two weeks ago.
2. Daily Covid-19 cases in Japan crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time on Saturday amid an Omicron wave. The capital Tokyo reported its fourth record daily infection tally with 11,227 cases.
3. China’s capital Beijing has urged all its local districts to maintain a “full emergency mode” as the city continues to report new local COVID-19 cases. It comes less than two weeks before the start of the Winter Olympic Games. Since January 15, at least 27 locally transmitted symptomatic cases and five asymptomatic cases have been found in Beijing.
4. Protests broke out in various European capitals on Saturday as people protested against vaccine passports and other requirements mandated by governments. Demonstrations took place in Athens, Helsinki, London, Paris and Stockholm.
5. Amid the raging Omicron wave in the United States, food banks across the country are facing a severe shortage of volunteers. At a time when the country is battling inflation, this has led to increased spending by food banks, the Associated Press reports.
Read | Singapore reports first Omicron-related death
6. The world-famous Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been postponed until the end of April amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. The parade, which took place on the last weekend of February, attracts a large number of tourists.
7. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday announced new COVID-19 restrictions under a “red setting”, after nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in Auckland this month. Ardern insisted that “red is not a lockdown,” noting that businesses can remain open and people can still meet family and friends and move freely around the country.
8. Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has warned that an outbreak of pet hamsters could lead to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in the city’s congested residential area. Hong Kong plans to kill more than 2,000 hamsters and other small animals after several rodents tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
(Reuters, with inputs from The Associated Press)
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