New Delhi: The surge in the global Covid-19 pandemic, fuelled by the Omicron variant, continues unabated, with the current global count standing at 335,521,830 cases and 5,574,726 deaths.
Amid the mayhem, Hong Kong is to kill 2,000 hamsters over Covid-19 fears. Germany, meanwhile, has crossed 1,00,000 daily Covid cases. Health experts in Israel expect the Omicron-driven Covid wave to wane this month.
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Hong Kong to kill 2,000 hamsters over ‘Covid risk’
Authorities in Hong Kong have ordered the culling of hundreds of hamsters after traces of Covid-19 virus were detected in 11 of them in a pet shop, The Guardian reported. Two of the workers at the pet shop, called Little Boss, have also been infected with Covid-19.
In an order issued Tuesday, the local administration urged people to not “kiss or abandon them on the street” and instead to hand over all hamsters bought days before Christmas or since 22 December for “disposal”. Around 2,000 hamsters are likely to be killed during the process.
The government has also suspended the sale of hamsters and imports of all rodents.
The discovery of hamsters infected with Covid-19 comes a day after Chinese authorities warned their citizens not to order goods from abroad, alleging that a recent case of Omicron in Beijing came from an international package sent from Canada via the US and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has reported 13,066 Covid-19 cases and 213 deaths.
Germany crosses 1,00,000 daily case count
Germany Wednesday registered over 1,00,000 fresh Covid-19 cases for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, reported Reuters. The death toll reached 1,16,081, with 239 new mortalities.
Despite the record single-day spike, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned that the peak had not been reached yet, and that compulsory vaccination should be introduced by May.
Lauterbach predicted the wave to peak in mid-February. Pointing out how the highly infectious Omicron variant brought Germany’s seven-day incidence rate to 584.4 cases for every 100,000 people, Lauterbach said making vaccination compulsory is the need of the hour to avoid a similar wave in the future.
In total, Germany has reported 8,140,446 Covid infections since the start of the pandemic.
Omicron wave to wane this month: Top Israel health official
The director-general of Israel’s Health Ministry, Prof. Nachman Ash, Tuesday said that the current Covid-19 wave, fuelled by the Omicron variant, will likely wane by the end of the month, reported Haaretz.
He, however, didn’t rule out a spike in cases in the coming week. According to government data, the number of critical Covid-19 patients currently stands at 498, a significant increase since last week, but “still one-third of the record number of cases during the country’s third COVID wave”.
The country’s testing and healthcare infrastructure has taken a hit due to the constant rise in cases, with the extremely transmissive variant resulting in shortage of medical staff in hospitals. The official Covid-19 bulletin, usually updated three times a day, was updated Tuesday after a two-day gap.
Israel has so far registered 1,792,137 Covid-19 cases and 8,318 deaths.
US govt website offering free Covid tests is live
The United States Tuesday formally launched covidtests.gov, a website that will enable Americans to request up to four free rapid Covid-19 home test kits from the federal government, The New York Times reported. The free test kits will be shipped in seven to 12 days.
This new effort to ramp up testing has borne significant results, with the government website attracting over a million visitors at one point Tuesday evening.
Last month, President Joe Biden vowed to purchase a billion rapid coronavirus home test kits and distribute them to Americans free of cost. So far, the administration has contracts to buy 420 million such test kits.
The Biden adminstration has also promised to provide 400 million “high-quality,” non-surgical N95 masks free of charge at community health centres and retail pharmacies across the country.
The United States has reported 68,767,004 Covid cases and 877,240 deaths thus far.
What else we’re reading:
Pfizer’s New Covid-19 Pill Works Against Omicron in Lab: The Wall Street Journal
Philippine COVID deaths may be double the current number: Al Jazeera
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