The number of new cases of corona infection in the world increased by eleven percent last week, compared with the previous week, according to the World Health Organization WHO.
At the same time, the number of deaths decreased by four percent.
Between December 22 and 28, an average of over 935,000 cases a day were detected globally.
This is the highest figure since the beginning of the pandemic, according to AFP's compilation.
However, the statistics on the number of reported cases vary depending on the test capacity in different countries.
Record upon record
The escalating spread of infection prompted WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to speak at a news conference on Wednesday.
- I am very worried that omikron, which is more contagious, circulates at the same time as the delta leads to a tsunami of falls.
This puts and will continue to put enormous pressure on exhausted healthcare professionals and health systems on the verge of collapse, he says.
The United States, Australia and several European countries, including Denmark, Italy, Spain and France, have reported new daily records.
In the last 24 hours alone, Denmark has had 23,228 new confirmed covid cases.
This is stated by the Danish Health Institute (SSI) for Ekstra Bladet.
Our neighboring country now has the highest spread of infection in the world, according to, among others, The Guardian.
- The large number of infected is also due to the fact that we test and report more than other countries.
But the spread of infection is serious, says the National Board of Health's director Søren Brostrøm.
"A surge"
During the Christmas week, week 51, the number of new covid cases in the country increased by 14 percent, according to preliminary figures from the Swedish Public Health Agency.
In fact, the average over seven days is the highest since the end of April, according to the authority's own statistics.
- Even though we have seen an increase in the number of people who need care due to covid-19, the vaccines mean that there are much fewer now compared to previous periods of high spread of infection, says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
According to him, Omikron is expected to become the dominant variant within a few weeks.
In France, more than 200,000 new cases were reported on Wednesday alone.
- I would not call omikron a wave anymore, I would call it a surge, says the country's Minister of Health Olivier Veran, who has warned of even higher infection rates after the turn of the year.
The rapidly spreading virus variant is now dominant in several countries.
Early studies have indicated that omicron causes less severe symptoms than delta.
WHO nevertheless urges caution and says that more studies are needed.
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The milder symptom picture makes it difficult for vaccinated people to decide for themselves what they have been affected by, according to Anders Sönnerborg.
Photo: Isabell Höjman / TT & SVT