South Africa and the United Kingdom have both reported a record high number of new daily COVID-19 infections, while the United States has surpassed 800,000 deaths from the virus.
A woman walks past a government COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign advertisement in London, 15 December 2021.South Africa and the United Kingdom have both reported a record high number of new daily COVID-19 infections, while the United States has now surpassed 800,000 deaths from the virus.
South Africa, the country worst affected by the pandemic on the African continent in terms of confirmed infections and deaths, alerted the world to Omicron in November, triggering alarm that it could cause a global surge in infections. The UK recorded a further 78,610 COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, about 10,000 more than the previous daily high reported in January.
Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, earlier called the Omicron variant "probably the most significant threat" since the start of the pandemic. The new variant of the virus has a doubling time under two days in most regions in the UK, with its growth rate was being notable in London and Manchester in particular.Meanwhile, the United States, the country hardest hit by the pandemic, on Tuesday crossed 800,000 COVID-19 deaths, a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University shows.
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