The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in India, where daily infections are setting new records.

Australia’s COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, reached a fresh pandemic high on Tuesday as hospital admissions surged.

Nearly 300 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide during the past two years, and more than five million deaths have been reported.

India has reported the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours since early September, bringing the total number of infections to 34.9 million.

Deaths rose by 124 to reach a total of 482,017, as Omicron overtook Delta in places such as the capital, New Delhi.

One of the newly infected people was Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, who spoke at an election rally on Monday without wearing a mask.

Kejriwal said in a Twitter post he was quarantined at home and urged those who came in touch with him in recent days to be tested for COVID-19.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1341 HRS, JAN 04, 2021
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