GLOBALink | COVID winter envelops U.S., Europe again as global caseload tops 300 mln

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases topped 300 million on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States remains the country worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's largest caseload and highest death toll.

STANDUP (English): XIE E, Xinhua correspondent

"It's only one week into the new year 2022, and the numbers of the COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States are getting worse, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread. As of Thursday afternoon, COVID-19 has infected more than 58 million, averaging a staggering 585,000 cases a day, a 247 percent increase from two weeks ago."

Across the Atlantic, many European countries are also suffering a tough start of the new year due to massive COVID-19 waves magnified by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The Omicron variant has sent Britain's daily COVID-19 infections surging over Christmas and the New Year, with 179,756 cases reported on Thursday.

France, Greece and Croatia have reported record daily COVID-19 cases, while the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium have seen infection rates hiking significantly by 35 percent and 79 percent respectively.

In order to counter the spread of the Omicron variant, officials and experts have once again made appeals for people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service