Omicron risk ‘very high’, says WHO amid 11% rise in global Covid cases

A medical worker wearing protective gear holds plastic gloves for visitors waiting in line for testing at a temporary screening clinic for the coronavirus in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: Lee Jin-man/AP

The number of Covid-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with the biggest increase in the Americas, the World Health Organisation has said.

Almost 900,000 cases were detected on average each day around the world between December 22 and 28, with myriad countries posting new all-time highs in the previous 24 hours, including the United States, Australia, many in Europe and Bolivia.

France have hit a European record with 208,000 new Covid-19 cases confirmed today.

Meanwhile, the UK have also reached a new daily record with 117,093 cases.

The UN health agency said in its weekly epidemiological report that there were nearly 4.99 million newly reported cases around the world from December 20-26.

Europe accounted for more than half the total, with 2.84 million, though that amounted to only a 3% increase over the previous week.

It also had the highest infection rate of any region, with 304.6 new cases per 100,000 residents.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is "highly concerned about the Omicron variant being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta - is leading to a tsunami of cases".

"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods," he said.

"The pressure on health systems is not only because of new COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalisation but also a large number of health workers are getting sick themselves."

The WHO said that new cases in the Americas were up 39% to nearly 1.48 million, and the region had the second-highest infection rate with 144.4 new cases per 100,000 residents.

The US alone saw more than 1.18 million cases, a 34% increase.

Reported new cases in Africa were up 7% to nearly 275,000.

The agency said that “the overall risk related to the new variant … Omicron remains very high”.

It cited “consistent evidence” that it has a growth advantage over the Delta variant, which remains dominant in parts of the world.

The WHO noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the UK and Denmark suggests a reduced risk of hospital admission with Omicron.

But it said that more data is needed “to understand the clinical markers of severity including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death, and how severity may be impacted by vaccination and/or prior … infection”.

The WHO said that the number of newly reported deaths worldwide last week was down 4% to 44,680.