Global Covid cases surpass 394 million

The overall number of Covid cases has surpassed 394 million, with Omicron variant’s rapid spread across the globe.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 394,771,347 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,738,938 Monday morning.

The US has recorded 76,505,442 cases so far and 902,624 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.

Russia is reporting a record daily count of new coronavirus infections, a tenfold spike from a month ago as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads through the country, reports AP.

The figure of 189,071 new infections released by the state coronavirus task force on Sunday was about 2,800 cases more than the previous day and continued a surge that began in mid-January, when daily new cases were around 17,000.

Although the number of infections has increased dramatically in recent weeks, the country's task force reported that daily deaths from COVID-19 are holding steady or marginally declining: 661 more deaths were recorded Sunday, compared with 796 on Jan. 6.

For the entire course of the pandemic, Russia has reported 12.8 million infections and 335,414 deaths, the highest death toll by far in Europe.

India has registered 107,474 new cases in the past 24 hours, with the tally reaching 42,188,138 on Sunday, the health ministry's data showed.

The ministry also reported 865 deaths since Saturday morning, bringing the death toll to 501,979.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 197,442 COVID-19 infections and 1,308 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide counts to 26,473,273 and 631,802 respectively, the National Council of Health Secretaries said Saturday.