Omicron tsunami swamps US, UK
New daily Covid cases in the US set yet another record as the World Health Organisation warned governments that easing selfisolation rules and testing requirements come with a tradeoff between slowing transmission rates and keeping economies running.
Daily cases in the US soared above 300,000 a day on a seven-day average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. This number was up by 35,000 cases in 24 hours.
The new record comes just after the seven-day average hit 265,427 on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).
But a report in The New York Times said the single-day figure for new Covid cases was actually closer to 500,000.
The newspaper added that even that number was likely much lower than the actual figure because of the rise in home testing and asymptomatic cases.
As of Thursday, the sevenday daily average of hospitalisations for confirmed or suspected Covid was 81,831 a day, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. That is an increase of about 19 per cent over the past two weeks.
The seven-day average of hospitalisations, though increasing, is below both the pandemic peak of 137,510 on January 10, 2021, and the smaller peak of 102,967 on September 4, 2021, during the Delta surge.
More countries have cut isolation times and testing requirements as new cases have not so far led to significant increases in hospitalisations.
The WHO, though, said there was a risk that some people would go on to develop and spread the disease after shorter quarantine periods expire. “So it is a trade-off between the science and being absolutely perfect in what you try to do, but then having the minimal disruption that you can possibly have to your economy and society,” said Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies director. “And governments are struggling to find that balance.”
It comes as the number of hospitalisations from Covid in England jumped by more than 60 per cent in a week. In the UK, the number of patients in hospital with coronavirus in England has climbed to its highest level since February, new figures show.
The latest data from NHS England shows there were 11,452 people in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of 8am on Thursday, local time, up 61 per cent from a week earlier and the highest number since February 26, 2021.
The London region had the highest number of beds occupied by confirmed Covid patients, at 3477, up 66 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since February 16 last year. During the second wave of coronavirus, the number of Covid patients in hospital peaked in both England and London on January 18, 2021, at 34,336 and 7917 respectively.
The data, published on Thursday, local time, also showed that there were 2082 Covid-19 hospital admissions in England on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, new data has revealed that coronavirus infections are slowing, amid a spread in Omicron cases in older age groups. But experts have warned that there has been a worrying rise in cases in Brits aged 55-75, which could put pressure on the NHS.
The Omicron variant is now responsible for 90 per cent of cases in the UK.