Covid cases surpass 500 mn as Omicron sub-variant surges

Washington, April 14

Global Covid cases surpassed 500 million on Thursday as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries in Europe and Asia.

The rise of BA.2 has been blamed for recent surges in China as well as record infections in Europe. It has been called the “stealth variant” because it is slightly harder to track than others.

South Korea leads the world in the daily average number of new cases, reporting more than 1,82,000 new infections a day and accounting for one in every four infections globally, according to an analysis.

New cases are rising in 20 out of more than 240 countries and territories tracked, including Taiwan, Thailand and Bhutan. Shanghai is fighting China’s worst Covid outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, with almost 25,000 new local cases reported, although the city’s quarantine policy is criticised for separating children from parents and putting asymptomatic cases among those with symptoms. — Reuters