Covid-19: UK offers hope to the world as Omicron surpasses peak

The variant appears to have slowed in New York City, other parts of America

The UK appears to have surpassed the peak of the latest wave of Covid-19 caused by Omicron, a promising sign that the highly transmissible variant’s impact may be brief, if intense, and fueling optimism that the pandemic may be waning.

Scientists say British data offer encouraging signs for countries behind the UK in the Omicron wave—such as the US—that the variant is echoing the pattern it followed in South Africa, where cases rose rapidly over the course of just over a month, before falling back.

The seven-day average of new daily cases of Covid-19 in the UK has been falling for a