Australia sees its deadliest day of Covid-19 pandemic

Supporters of Canadian truck drivers, who heading to Ottawa in protest against a federal government vaccine mandate, gather near a highway outside of Toronto, Canada, on Thursday. Pic/AFP

Australia suffered its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday, with 98 deaths registered by late afternoon on Friday. That takes the 25 million population country's Covid-19 toll to 3,500 since the pandemic began, far lower than numbers seen in many comparable countries. Fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, infections exploded during the past four weeks, with around two million cases recorded. Up until then, Australia had just 4,00,000 cases since the pandemic began.

Australia is among the most heavily vaccinated countries against Covid-19 with more than 93% of its adult population double-dosed and around two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data. The country's drug regulator on Friday expanded the eligibility for boosters to 16- and 17-year-olds, joining the US, Israel and Britain.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started in 2020, reaching the total tally to 14,02,070 so far, local media reported on Friday. According to National Command and Operation Centre's (NCOC) data, the cases continue to rise amid a spread of Omicron and the country recorded 8,183 cases in the last 24 hours, Geo TV reported.

S. Korea to add small hospitals as cases rise

Amid a developing Omicron surge, South Korea plans to add hundreds of small neighbourhood hospitals and clinics next month. Health officials announced the plans on Friday, as South Korea's daily cases reached a new high for a fourth straight day at 16,096, double the number reported on Monday. The country's medical response to Covid-19 had mainly depended on big hospitals with advanced equipment and more beds. Officials are now trying to mobilise smaller hospitals and clinics to diagnose and monitor possibly tens of thousands of mild or moderate cases who would be treated at home in coming weeks.

3,395,352
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

36,65,89,668
Total no. of cases worldwide

56,38,962
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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