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Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries in Europe and Asia, Reuters reported.

The rise of BA.2 has been blamed for recent surges in China as well as record infections in Europe. It has been called the “stealth variant” because it is slightly harder to track than others.

South Korea leads the world in the daily average number of new cases, reporting more than 182,000 new infections a day and accounting for one in every four infections globally, according to a Reuters analysis.

New cases are rising in 20 out of more than 240 countries and territories tracked, including Taiwan, Thailand and Bhutan.

Shanghai is fighting China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, with almost 25,000 new local cases reported, although the city’s quarantine policy is criticized for separating children from parents and putting asymptomatic cases among those with symptoms, according to Reuters.

“Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control is at the most difficult and most critical stage,” Wu Qianyu, an official with the municipal health commission, told a briefing.

EUROPE, US STILL AFFECTED

Some European countries are now seeing a slower uptick in new cases, or even a decline, but the region is still reporting over 1 million cases about every two days, according to the Reuters tally.

In Germany, the seven-day average of new infections has fallen and is now at 59% of its previous peak in late March. New cases are also falling in the United Kingdom and Italy, while they are holding steady in France.

Overall, COVID-19 cases in the United States have dropped sharply after hitting record levels in January, but the resurgence of cases in parts of Asia and Europe has raised concerns that another wave could follow in the United States, Reuters reported.

The US national public health agency said on Monday the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for nearly three of every four coronavirus variants in the country.

The BA.2 variant now makes up about 86% of all sequenced cases globally, according to the World Health Organization. It is known to be more transmissible than the BA.1 and BA.1.1 Omicron sub-variants. Evidence so far, though, suggests BA.2 is no more likely to cause severe disease.

Scientists continue to emphasize vaccines are critical for avoiding the devastation the virus can cause.

Roughly 64.8% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, although only 14.8% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose, according to figures from Our World in Data.

While cases have flared in Europe and Asia recently, the United States still has the highest total COVID infections since the start of the pandemic with 80.41 million, followed by India with 43.04 million and Brazil with 30.14 million, according to Reuters.

As many as 360!people lost their lives in road accidents in Bagmati Province last year.

According to the Bagmati Province, Traffic Police Office, a total of 365 people lost their lives in 10 districts of the province except for Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.

Chief of the Office, Superintendent of Police Sushil Singh Rathore, said that a total of 1,647 accidents have occurred where 360 people were killed.

Similarly, 3,389 people were injured in the accidents. Of them, 869 were critically injured and 2,520 suffered minor injuries, according to the Office.

A total of 34 people were killed in 135 accidents from April 14-May 14, 2021, 19 in 87 accidents from May 15-June 14, 2021 and 18 people in 123 accidents from June 15-July 15, 2021.

According to the Office, 24 people lost their lives in 150 accidents from July 16-August 16, 2021, 22 in 118 accidents from August 17-September 16, 2021, 36 in 158 accidents from September 17- October 17, 2021, 41 in 163 accidents from October 18-November 16, 2021, and 35 in 155 accidents from November 17-December 15, 2021.

Likewise, 31 people were killed in 114 road accidents from December 16, 2021-January 14, 2022, 34 in 122 accidents from January 15-February 12, 2022, 34 in 175b accidents from February 13-March 14, 2022 and 32 in 147 accidents from March 15-April 13, 2022.

A total of 2,407 vehicles met with accidents in Bagmati Province in a year. Rathore said that most of the accidents took place due to over speed and road conditions.

The Office has accelerated different activities like public awareness to reduce road accidents, he added.

Nepal reported 14 new Covid-19 cases on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 030 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 14 returned positive. Likewise, 873 people underwent antigen tests, of which no one were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 54 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 1, 438 active cases in the country.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, is arriving in Nepal on April 21.

He is arriving in Nepal at the invitation of the Ministry of Health and Population.

During his visit, the Director General is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He will also hold separate meetings with Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka and Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada.