China battles highest daily Covid-19 surge in 2 years; UK hits record with nearly 5 million infected

Despite a decline in cases around the world, Covid-19 refuses to show signs of completely disappear  anytime soon. In the last week, the infection reached record levels in the United Kingdom as it rolled out its Living With Covid strategy. Whereas China is contending with its worst coronavirus outbreak in the last two years, prompting authorities to clamp down restrictive measures to curb the spread of the disease.

Globally, Covid-19 cases have exceeded 489.4 million, while deaths have surged to more than 6.14 million. Meanwhile, the WHO has flagged a new strain of coronavirus that may be the most contagious yet.

Here are the top Covid-19 developments from across the



world:

Hospitalisations and death rates are again on the rise in Britain as Covid infections reached record levels, with around 4.9 million people estimated to have the virus in the week ending March 26. The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible Omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the UK.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant continued its sweep across China, with the country reporting 13,146 Covid cases on Sunday, the highest since the peak of the first wave more than two years ago. Financial hub Shanghai accounted for 70 per cent of the cases, even as nearly all of its 25 million residents stayed at home under strict "zero-Covid" orders.