Shawdesh Desk:

The overall number of global Covid cases is fast approaching 268 million amid the Omicron-driven surge.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 267,794,444 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,278,886 Thursday morning.

The US has recorded 49,537,175 cases to date and more than 793,188 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.

New cases in the US climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on November 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalisations are up 25% from a month ago. The increases are due almost entirely to the delta variant, though the Omicron mutation has been detected in about 20 states and is sure to spread even more, reports AP.

Deaths are running close to 1,600 a day on average, back up to where they were in October. And the overall US death toll less than two years into the crisis could hit another heartbreaking milestone, 800,000, in a matter of days.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, has registered 22,167,781 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 616,251.

India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,656,822 on Wednesday, as 8,439 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry.

Besides, 195 deaths from the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 473,952.