France, Germany see fresh surge of over 1.7 lakh cases | Global Covid updates in 8 points

Global Covid-19 updates: Poll-bound country France logged nearly 2 lakh fresh cases, Germany recorded 1.76 Lakh cases in the last 24 hours. Shanghai’s daily spike hovered around the 25,000-mark. Here are global Covid updates in eight points

The BA.2 variant, or 'stealth' Omicron, has driven a fresh surge in Europe, the United States and China in the last few weeks. France continued to report an increase in hospitalisations as the poll-bound country logged nearly 2 lakh fresh cases. Germany recorded 1.76 Lakh cases in the last 24 hours. In China, Shanghai’s daily spike hovered around the 25,000-mark yet again.

A medical worker prepares to test residents during a round of Covid-19 testing in a neighborhood placed under lockdown in Shanghai. (Bloomberg)

Here are global Covid updates in eight points:

1 Germany's daily Covid surge went up - 1.76 lakh as against 1.62 lakh a day earlier - as the overall cases recorded so far rose to 23 crore. 361 new Covid-linked fatalities were also registered, reports said.

2. France, which is currently battling an Omicron-led surge coupled with high hospital fatalities, reported over 1.9 Lakh new cases of the last 24 hours, as per news agency Reuters.

3. In Chinese financial centre Shanghai, the daily surge again crossed the 25,000-mark as authorities ease lockdown. 25,141 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases and 1,189 symptomatic cases were reported for April 12 by the local government, Reuters said.

4. South Korea logged a single-day spike of 1,95,419 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the country's total tally to 15,830,644 infections. The country loosened restrictions earlier this month, pushing back the curfew on eateries and other businesses to midnight, and allowing wider private gatherings of up to 10 people.

5. As the country continues to battle the highly contagious Omicron variant, South Korea’s health ministry said on Wednesday it will administer a second Covid-19 vaccine booster shot for people over 60 soon, Reuters reported.

6. Meanwhile in the US, the BA.2 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus is now responsible for 86% of the Covid cases in the country, according to data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

7. Malaysia reported 9,002 new Covid-19 infections as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 4,342,559, according to the health ministry.

8. New Zealand opened its borders to vaccinated Australian visitors after being mostly closed for more than two years. New Zealand had some of the toughest curbs in the world during the pandemic and its borders have been closed for most of the time since March 2020.