Covid-19: Here is a l of countries that are seeing a spike in infections

After a brief respite, countries worldwide are once again seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases. Officials of the World Health Organisation said that as many as 11 million new infections regered between March 7 and March 13, which translates to an 8% spike compared to the previous week.
“These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we’re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Here is a l of countries that have recorded an increase in cases: 
China: The Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai is pushing ahead with a mass testing initiative as it tries to curb a new spike in Covid-19 infections, but some dricts were easing lockdown rules in an effort to minimise disruptions. Shanghai, which has up to now remained relatively unscathed the coronavirus, has shut schools and launched a city-wide testing programme that has seen dozens of residential compounds sealed off for at least 48 hours. China has been battling its worst Covid outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in 2020.
South Korea: Seoul reached another daily record in Covid-19 deaths as health officials reported more than 621,000 new infections, underscoring a massive omicron surge that has been worse than feared and threatens to buckle an over-stretched hospital system. The 621,266 new coronavirus cases diagnosed health workers were also a record daily jump, shattering Wednesday’s previous high of 400,624. That pushed the national caseload to over 8.2 million, with more than 7.4 million cases added since the start of February.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong reported about 20,000 new coronavirus cases Friday as health experts called for a clear way out of a “zero Covid” policy that has left the city isolated. Densely populated Hong Kong has regered the most deaths per million people globally in recent weeks. But restrictions, including a ban on flights from nine countries such as Britain and the United States, quarantine of up to 14 days for residents returning to Hong Kong, and the closure of schools, gyms, beaches and other venues, have frustrated many.
Italy: Rome reported 79,895 Covid-19 related cases Thursday, against 72,568 the day before, the health minry said, while the number of deaths fell to 128 from 137. Italy has regered 157,442 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. The country has reported 13.65 million cases to date.

Britain: The United Kingdom has seen a rise in the number of infections and hospitalisations in the past week. A Guardian report said that the number of people in hospital with Covid increased from 8,210 on March 3 to 11,346 on March 17. It added that the data released the UK Health Security Agency Thursday showed the total weekly hospital admission rate in England for Covid in the week ending March 13 was 13.38 per 100,000 compared with 11.67 per 100,000 the previous week.
Germany: The German government defended its decision to let many pandemic restrictions expire at the weekend, even as the country hit a new record high for newly confirmed cases. Germany’s disease control agency reported 294,931 new cases in the past 24 hours. The Robert Koch Institute said there have been a further 278 Covid-related deaths, taking the overall toll since the start of the pandemic to 126,420. The decision to end many pandemic restrictions on Sunday, including the requirements to wear masks in public settings and limit spectators in stadiums, was criticised the states, who can still introduce their own restrictions in virus hotspots going forward.
(Compiled from Reuters and Associated Press reports)