Protests in Belgium: Here are the latest Covid-19 global developments

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 5,249,851 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Sunday. 

At least 264,784,370 cases of coronavirus have been registered. 

The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later. 

The figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country. They exclude revisions made by other statistical organisations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher. 

The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19. 

A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries. 

On Saturday, 6,343 new deaths and 520,383 new cases were recorded worldwide. 

Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were India with 2,796 new deaths, followed by Russia with 1,206 and United States with 500.

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The United States is the worst-affected country with 788,204 deaths from 49,051,150 cases. 

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 615,570 deaths from 22,138,247 cases, India with 473,326 deaths from 34,633,255 cases, Mexico with 295,155 deaths from 3,900,293 cases, and Russia with 281,278 deaths from 9,801,613 cases. 

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 611 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria with 414, Bosnia-Herzegovina with 387, Montenegro with 370, Republic of North Macedonia with 366, Hungary with 364 and Czech Republic with 314. 

Latin America and the Caribbean overall has 1,543,788 deaths from 46,790,078 cases, Europe 1,541,363 deaths from 86,308,716 infections, and Asia 904,687 deaths from 57,426,756 cases. 

The United States and Canada has reported 817,961 deaths from 50,853,509 cases, Africa 223,393 deaths from 8,723,088 cases, Middle East 215,318 deaths from 14,364,584 cases, and Oceania 3,341 deaths from 317,640 cases. 

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies. 

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

Brussels protest

Belgian police fire water cannon to disperse protesters opposed to compulsory health measures against Covid.

‘Encouraging’ signs on Omicron

Early indications of the severity of the Omicron Covid-19 variant are “a bit encouraging”, top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci says, while cautioning that more information is still needed. 

Jump in cases in Denmark

Denmark has seen a “concerning” jump to 183 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, a tripling of confirmed cases in  48 hours, health authorities say.

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Riyadh okays entry for Sputnik-jabbed

Saudi Arabia has granted approval for people vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik jab to enter the country in a move that will enable Muslims to take part in religious pilgrimages, the vaccine’s developers say.

Britain demands negative test for entry

The UK government announces that those travelling to the country will need to show a negative coronavirus test pre-departure as it reintroduces Covid-19 restrictions because of the Omicron variant.

Jordan jails hospital chief over 10 Covid deaths

A Jordanian court sentences to three years in jail the director of a state hospital over the death of 10 patients at the facility which treated coronavirus patients.