Covid variant 'tsunami' as world cases hit record

A Covid variant-driven "tsunami" threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said. Data showed cases have surged across the world in the past week to levels never seen before. 

Highly transmissible Omicron propelled the United States, France and Denmark to fresh records, with Tally of 6.55 million infections reported globally for seven days through Tuesday demonstrating the unprecedented spread.

The figures were the highest since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in March 2020, underscoring the blistering pace of Omicron transmission, with tens of millions of people facing a second consecutive year of restrictions dampening New Year's Eve celebrations.

"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse," he added.

The surge, currently the worst in Europe, is forcing governments to walk a tightrope between imposing restrictions designed to stop hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and the need to keep economies and societies open two years after the virus first emerged in late 2019.

The United States, where Omicron is already overwhelming hospitals, recorded its highest-ever seven-day average of new cases at 265,427, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the count was probably just the "tip of the iceberg" with the true number of cases likely far higher, because of a shortage of tests.