Crispian Balmer and Renju Jose

SYDNEY/ROME – As the Omicron virus of the virus continues to race out of control and keep workers home, and overwhelm testing centers, daily COVID-19 infected have reached record levels in the United States.

Nearly two years since China’s first report of “viral pneumonia”, the coronavirus has been wreaking havoc around the globe. It is now causing widespread problems in several parts of the world and forcing governments to reconsider the quarantine system.

There have been some reports that the Omicron variant may be less dangerous than its predecessors. However, hospitals and businesses in certain countries could soon become overwhelmed by the large number of Omicron positives.

The record breaking Tuesday number of cases in France, Britain (Italy, Spain), Portugal, Greece, and Malta was set by Spain, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

According to a Reuters tally, the average daily number of COVID-19 patients in America has reached a new record over the last seven days. This year’s peak occurred in January.

On Wednesday, Australia’s new daily infection rate surpassed 11,300.

Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, stated that his country required “a gear shift” in order to handle overburdened laboratories. There were long queues for both drive-in and walk-in patients across a variety of locations.

Test bottlenecks also developed in European countries, including Spain. On Tuesday, demand for COVID-19 kits, provided free by Madrid’s region government, was far greater than supply, and long lines formed outside pharmacies.

“I JUST WANT to GO HOME!”

Many governments became more concerned by the large number of coronavirus-infected people who were forced to live in isolation.

Morrison, from Australia, stated that it was impossible to take everyone out of circulation just because someone happens to be there at a certain time.

Italy is expected to ease some quarantine restrictions on Wednesday. This was due to fears that the country would soon be in a standstill because of how many people have to isolate themselves. The number of cases has increased by 80% from one day earlier, to 78 3133.

China has not stopped its campaign of zero tolerance for outbreaks. 13,000,000 people were kept in Xian’s city limits, and the situation remained bleak.

The 32-year-old mechanical, who had been in Xian on a business trip and was suddenly cut off from the outside world last week, said “I just want back home.”

Xian is yet to announce any Omicron cases.

Many countries continue to struggle with the Delta version, including Poland which recorded 794 COVID-related death on Wednesday. This is the highest reported number of deaths in the fourth pandemic wave.

Waldemar Kraska (Deputy Health Minister) stated that 75% more people who died had not been vaccinated.

The World Health Organization released its latest epidemiological reports overnight, stating that Omicron has a lower chance of being hospitalized than Delta.

The report stated that further research was required to determine how vaccinations and prior infections may impact severity.

This coincides with New Year holiday, which is a time of travel and parties. Italy and Japan have both cancelled their public celebrations while Japan’s authorities urged people to limit the number of end-of-year events.

Norio Ohmagari (director of the Disease Control and Prevention Center and top health advisor to Tokyo Metropolitan Government) stated that the highest danger is to meet people who don’t take adequate precautions to avoid infection.