Shawdesh Desk:

Amid a global scare over the new Omicron strain of Covid-19, the overall number of global coronavirus cases is inching closer to 298 million.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 297,504,250 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,464,532 Thursday morning.

The US has recorded 57,649,131 cases so far and more than 832,061 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.

Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the Omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier Covid-19 surges, reports AP.

This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many healthcare workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for Covid-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patients — two-thirds in some places — are testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons.

At the same time, hospitals say the patients aren’t as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units aren’t as full, and ventilators aren’t needed as much as they were before.

About 85,000 Americans are in hospital with Covid-19, just short of the Delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 22,328,252 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 619,654.

India’s federal health ministry Wednesday recorded the first death linked to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The death has been recorded in the western state of Rajasthan’s Udaipur district.

India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 35,018,358 on Wednesday, as 58,097 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the health ministry’s latest data.

Besides, as many as 534 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 482,551.