Twenty countries on four continents reported record numbers of Covid-19 cases in the past week, underscoring the pressure the omicron variant places on healthcare systems in rich and poor countries around the world.
The World Health Organization has warned of an impending “tsunami” of infections, as the omicron, highly transmissible, and delta variants circulate together.
At least five countries — including Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom — experienced an increase of more than double the peak in cases recorded previously, according to analysis by the Financial Times.
The seven-day moving average of cases in the United States approached 300,000 on Wednesday (29), the highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the FT data tracker.
Countries are also using many more tests today than in earlier stages of the pandemic, but the percentage of tests that test positive is generally increasing, indicating that the increase in cases is real.
In several countries — including England, Canada and Denmark — test positivity has already reached a record level since widespread community testing began.
PCR and lateral flow tests are currently not available, or are difficult to obtain, in several countries, including the UK and Italy.
Australia, which previously followed a “zero Covid” policy, saw an increase in infections of about five-and-a-half times the peak previously recorded, according to the analysis.
Initial evidence suggests that omicron is less severe compared to earlier variants. This could be because the coronavirus has infected millions of people since it first appeared two years ago, giving those infected some immunity, and because of vaccination. It remains to be seen, however, whether omicron is less virulent for people who have not been vaccinated or exposed to the virus, especially for the most vulnerable.
Public health experts warned against minimizing the impact of omicrons after concluding that the disease is milder.
“The exponential increase in cases in countries and cities around the world can result in increasingly strained health systems,” Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO, told the Financial Times. “A small percentage of a large number of people can still fill hospitals and, in addition, tremendously increase the need for outpatient care,” she said.
The large increase in cases has already put pressure on hospitals in the United States, where states with high vaccination rates, including New York and the capital Washington, are also experiencing an increase in infections.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday that the state is mobilizing additional medical teams and expanding bed capacity as hospital admission rates increase, but remain lower compared to the same period last year.
“We’re basically gearing up for a spike in January,” she said. “We know it’s coming.”
Mike Ryan, WHO’s director of emergencies, said the virus is likely to evolve into an endemic stage, but “it’s very unlikely to go away completely.”
Since the omicron strain was first detected in southern Africa last month, countries have rushed to curb its spread, restricting travel or closing borders and expanding enforcement campaigns. Omicron appears to be more transmissible than delta and capable of disrupting immunity caused by vaccines and previous infections.
Initial evidence indicates that full courses of existing vaccines may be less effective in fighting the strain, although booster doses may help restore some of that protection. For vaccines used mainly in poorer countries, this protection is even less. Johnson was the last company to say an extra dose of its vaccine helped against the strain on Thursday.
In the two years since it was first detected, the coronavirus has infected more than 284 million people globally, killing more than 5.4 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, although both numbers are likely to be largely underestimated.
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