Just as people thought it was over, it is back again. How unfortunate it is! The Covid-19 cases are spiking again. Officials of the World Health Organisation said that as many as 11 million new infections registered between March 7 and March 13, which translates to an 8% spike compared to the previous week. “This increase is despite the reduction in testing in some countries; which means the cases we’re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Here is the list of countries seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases.
List of countries seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases
1. China
Shanghai is moving ahead with a mass testing program to combat a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections. However, some areas in the city are loosening lockdown requirements to reduce disruptions. Shanghai has managed to escape the coronavirus so far but not anymore. They have closed schools and initiated a city-wide testing process; that has seen hundreds of residential compounds locked down for at least 48 hours. Since the virus first appeared in Wuhan in 2020, China has been fighting its deadliest COVID-19 outbreak.
2. South Korea
Seoul set a new daily record for COVID-19 mortality, with more than 621,000 new infections registered by health officials, highlighting a large omicron surge that has been worse than expected and threatens to suffocate an already overburdened hospital system. The 621,266 new coronavirus cases confirmed by health workers set a new daily high, surpassing the previous high of 400,624 on Wednesday. The nationwide caseload now stands at more than 8.2 million, with more than 7.4 million cases added since the beginning of February.
3. Hong Kong
About 20,000 new coronavirus infections were reported in Hong Kong on Friday, as health experts asked for a clear path out of a “zero Covid” policy that has isolated the city. In recent weeks, the densely crowded Hong Kong has had the highest number of deaths per million inhabitants worldwide. Many people have been frustrated by the restrictions, which include a ban on flights from nine countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States; a quarantine of up to 14 days for residents returning to Hong Kong, and the shutdown of schools, gyms, beaches, and other public places.
4. Britain
In the last week, the number of infections and hospitalizations in the United Kingdom has increased. According to a Guardian investigation, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals jumped from 8,210 on March 3 to 11,346 on March 17. The figures provided on Thursday by the UK Health Security Agency showed that; the total weekly hospital admission rate for COVID-19 in England in the week ending March 13 was 13.38 per 100,000. It went up from 11.67 per 100,000 the previous week.
5. Italy
The health ministry in Rome registered 79,895 COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The cases went up from 72,568 the day before, nearly 7.3k cases in a day. However, the number of deaths fell to 128 from 137 the day before. Since the pandemic began in February 2020, Italy has recorded 157,442 deaths due to COVID-19; the second-highest toll in Europe after the United Kingdom and the eighth-highest in the world. To date, 13.65 million cases have been documented in the country.
6. Germany
Even as the country hit a new elevated number for newly confirmed cases, the German government maintained its decision to let numerous pandemic restraints lapse over the weekend. In the last 24 hours, Germany’s disease control agency documented 294,931 new cases. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there have been another 278 COVID-19-related deaths; giving rise to the total number of deaths to 126,420 since the outbreak began. The determination to hold up numerous pandemic restrictions on Sunday, including the obligation to wear masks in public; and limit spectators in stadiums, was panned by states, which can still impose their own restrictions on viral hotspots in the future.