Covid-19 cases soar around the world and fear of new quarantines increases

The daily number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has reached record highs in the United States, parts of Europe and Australia now as the Ômicron variant has spread out of control, keeping workers at home and raising fears of new quarantines around the world.

Nearly two years after China reported an outbreak of “viral pneumonia” cases in the city of Wuhan, the frequently mutating coronavirus is wreaking havoc in many parts of the world and forcing governments to rethink quarantine rules and testing.

Although some studies indicate that Ômicron is less deadly than some of its predecessors, the sheer number of people being diagnosed could cause hospitals in some countries to become overwhelmed soon, while businesses could struggle to keep going because of overworked employees. to quarantines.

France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Malta registered a record number of new cases on Tuesday.

The average number of Covid-19 cases per day in the US has also hit a record high in the past seven days, according to a Reuters count. The previous peak occurred in January of this year.

In Australia, new daily infections soared to nearly 18,300 on Wednesday, well above the previous record of around 11,300 hit the day before.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country needed to “change gears” to deal with overcrowded labs suffering from long lines of people and cars in many areas.

Testing infrastructure bottlenecks are also on the increase in European countries, including Spain, where demand for free Covid-19 tests provided by the Madrid regional government far exceeded Tuesday’s supply, causing long lines in front of pharmacies.

Various governments are also increasingly concerned about the huge numbers of people who are forced into isolation because they have come into contact with a coronavirus carrier.

“We can’t accept that everyone is taken out of circulation because they happen to be in a particular place at a particular time,” Morrison told reporters.

Italy is believed to relax some quarantine rules on Wednesday for fear the country will lock up soon, given the number of people being forced into preventive isolation. On Tuesday the cases doubled from the day before and reached 78,313.

Reference: CNN Brasil

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