The total number of COVID-19 cases recorded globally, since the start of the pandemic, surpassed 300 million on Friday, as per an AFP tally based on official figures.

At 15:45 GMT, the tally was 300,042,439 cases. The numbers have been increasing since late 2021 owing to the rapid spread of Omicron variant, which was first detected in Botswana and South Africa. With Omicron surge, several countries are registering a record number of cases. More than 13.5 million cases were reported worldwide in the past week, with a huge surge of 64% over the previous seven days. This translates to an average of 1,938,395 new cases per day. Thirty four countries have logged record weekly case numbers, with 18 being in Europe, 7 in Africa and 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The US, Canada and Australia have also logged record number of infections… (ET Healthworld – AFP, January 8, 2022)