Omicron Effect: Over 1 Million Daily COVID-Positive Cases Globally

London: How quickly Omicron is spreading can be gauged from the fact that fresh COVID-19 cases crossed the 1-million mark for the second straight day.

On Monday, a staggering 1.44 million people had tested positive for the coronavirus which was the highest single-day spike since the COVID-19 pandemic broke almost two years ago, Bloomberg reported.

The new highly-transmissible variant of coronavirus first surfaced in South Africa last month. Cases have been growing at a scary rate, with several European nations and the United States feeling the brunt of it.

The United States alone reported nearly half of the million COVID-19 cases across the world in the last 24 hours with California contributing 86,000 of those.

Among European countries, France has been experiencing a remarkable surge with a record 179,807 new confirmed coronavirus cases in 24 hours.

Omicron has hit Australia, too, resulting in record hospitalisations. Cases in Sydney almost doubled to more than 11,000 in a day, while Victoria state also reported a record 3,700 cases.

China is on high alert, too, with Xian being under lockdown for a week.