Variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in US the hardest-hit nation
\n washington
\nA Covid \u201ctsunami\u201d threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fuelled by the Omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again.
\nGovernments are walking a tightrope between anti-virus restrictions and the need to keep societies and economies open, as the highly transmissible variant drove cases to levels never seen before in the United States, Britain, France and Denmark.
\nThe blistering surge was illustrated by AFP\u2019s tally of 6.55 million new infections reported globally in the week ending Tuesday, the highest the figure has been since the World Health Organization declared a Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
\n\u201cI am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,\u201d said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
\n\u201cThis is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse.\u201d
\nThe variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in the United States, the hardest-hit nation where the seven-day average of new cases hit 265,427, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
\nHarvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the count was likely just the \u201ctip of the iceberg\u201d with the true number likely far higher because of a shortage of tests.
\nBut there was some hope as data indicated a decoupling of the number of cases and hospitalisations.
\n\u201cWe should not become complacent,\u201d top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, but \u201call indications point to a lesser severity of Omicron\u201d.
\nAt a drive-through virus testing site in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, there were long lines of cars with people waiting to provide samples.
\n\u201cHalf of my family has it, you know this new variant is very, very spreadable, like way more spreadable than the first time around,\u201d said resident Victoria Sierralta.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re back in like the first stage of Covid. It\u2019s absolutely crazy.\u201d
\n\u2018This is serious\u2019
\nMillions around the world will again welcome a new year in the shadow of the pandemic, which is known to have killed more than 5.4 million people so far, with festivities dampened or cancelled in many countries.
\nGreece on Wednesday banned music in bars and restaurants to try and limit New Year\u2019s Eve parties, with public events already cancelled.
\nThe mayor of Mexico\u2019s capital has cancelled the city\u2019s massive New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations after a spike in cases.
\nDespite the outbreak concerns, the streets of Mexico City were busy on Wednesday.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think that such an event with such economic importance should be cancelled, however health comes before everything else,\u201d said 59-year-old teacher Victor Arturo Madrid Contreras.
\nWith the \u201ccancellation they are sending a message… \u2018You know what? This is serious\u2019.\u201d
\nBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile defended his decision not to clamp down on festivities over the holidays, saying around 90 percent of Covid patients in intensive care had not received a vaccine booster.
\nThe number of people in hospital with the coronavirus topped 10,000 in England, the highest total since March, as Britain on Wednesday reported a new record of 183,037 daily cases.
\nThe high take-up of boosters in England \u201cis allowing us to go ahead with New Year in the cautious way that we are\u201d, Johnson said, despite new closures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
\nRecords cases in France, Denmark
\nAcross the Channel, France too hit a new daily record of more than 200,000 cases — more than double the number on Christmas Day — as it extended its closure of nightclubs into January.
\nWearing masks outdoors will become compulsory in Paris on Friday for everyone over the age of 11 except those inside vehicles, cyclists, users of other two-wheelers such as scooters and those participating in sports.
\nDenmark, which currently has the world\u2019s highest rate of infection per person, recorded a fresh record of 23,228 new cases, which authorities attributed in part to the large numbers of tests carried out after Christmas celebrations.
\nPortugal also saw a record with nearly 27,000 cases reported in 24 hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in US the hardest-hit nation washington A Covid \u201ctsunami\u201d threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fuelled by the Omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again. Governments are walking a tightrope between anti-virus restrictions and the need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[388,1210,959,2379,785],"class_list":{"0":"post-235946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-covid","9":"tag-covid19","10":"tag-omicron","11":"tag-tsunami","12":"tag-who"},"yoast_head":"\n