The United States reported 1.35 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally.

Britain on Monday put the biggest private health companies on high alert to deliver crucial treatments such as cancer surgery should Omicron overwhelm National Health Service hospitals in England.

The Omicron variant​​​​​​​ has overwhelmed hospitals in early hit cities across the United States, with experts saying this could be just the beginning.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) latest data shows that the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 is sending children to the hospital in record numbers.

As the world marks International Day of Epidemic Preparedness Gaza’s health sector continues to suffer due to the hermetic Israeli blockade in place since 2007.

US airlines called off hundreds of flights for the third day in a row on Sunday as crews were grounded amid surging COVID-19 infections due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic, as inequity in access to jabs could lead to more mutated variants that drag out the crisis, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warns.