European countries reported record high daily new infections on Thursday amid the rapid spread of Omicron variant. The UK recorded some 189,000 new cases, about 6,000 higher than the previous record on Wednesday. Daily cases in Italy jumped to over 126,000. It was the first time the country had recorded more than 100,000 cases in one day. Portugal reported a record high of over 28,000 new cases. The country cut the mandatory isolation for the asymptomatic from 10 days to 7. Spain and Britain took similar decisions due to a shortage of workers.