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Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
By Trevor Hunnicutt
The United States on Wednesday identified its first known COVID case caused by the Omicron variant, discovered in a fully vaccinated patient who traveled to South Africa, as scientists continue to study the risks the new version could pose.
Public health officials said the infected person, who had mild and improving symptoms, returned to the United States from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive seven days later.
That patient was fully vaccinated but did not have a booster shot, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, who briefed reporters at the White House.
The person is in self-quarantine and all of the patient's close contacts have tested negative, he said.
Key questions remain about the new variant, which mutated in ways that health experts think could improve its ability to both spread and evade some of the defenses provided by vaccines. Work is underway to update those vaccines, if necessary.
Omicron has been found in two dozen countries, including several in Europe plus Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Israel.
The United States has not yet detected community transmission of Omicron. Across much of the country, COVID transmission remains high but new cases have held fairly steady over the last two weeks, according to a Reuters tally. Three-quarters of all COVID samples in South Africa are now Omicron.
"The critical thing is, over the next week or so, will we see any community transmission from that case," said Andy Pekosz, virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "That's a critical thing that we want to keep an eye on."
Pekosz said the variant could make the relatively new set of antiviral pills from Merck (MRK.N) and Pfizer (PFE.N) more important by helping to reduce the severity of infections.
Fauci said it could take two weeks or more to gain insight into how easily the variant spreads from person to person, how severe is the disease it causes and whether it can bypass the protections provided by vaccines currently available.
The Biden administration has asked fully vaccinated people to seek booster shots after their initial doses. Sixty percent of Americans are fully vaccinated and about a fifth of those people took boosters, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For days, U.S. health officials have said the new variant -first detected in southern Africa and announced on Nov. 25 - was likely already in the United States as dozens of other countries also detected its presence.
"This new variant is a cause for concern but not a cause for panic," Biden said on Wednesday before the Omicron case was announced. A spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said he the president had been briefed by his team on the first known U.S. case.
Benchmark U.S. stock indexes turned negative on the news. The S&P 500 (.SPX) fell by more than 1%, extending to nearly 4% its loss in price terms over the past week. The World Health Organization named the variant as one of concern on Friday.
The United States has barred nearly all foreigners who have been in one of eight southern African countries. On Tuesday, the CDC directed airlines to disclose names and other information of passengers who have been to those countries.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-reports-first-case-omicron-variant-2021-12-01/
People line up outside a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination center in Nice, France, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
France is stepping up its COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign and tightening entry rules for arrivals from outside the European Union in response to the spread of the Omicron variant, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Gabriel Attal also said flights from countries in southern Africa, where the variant was first detected last week, would remain suspended until Friday. From Saturday they would resume, but only for travellers returning to their main residences, he said.
The government hopes eight million people in France will have received a third vaccine injection by the end of Wednesday, and 10 million by the end of this week.
There are about 1,100 vaccination centers in operation and the government plans to open 300 more in coming weeks, he added.
Meanwhile, all non-EU arrivals in mainland France, where the Omicron variant has yet to be detected, will henceforth have to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test regardless of their vaccination status, Attal added.
Nearly 51 million, or 76% of France's population, have received two vaccine shots.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-government-all-travellers-outside-eu-will-need-negative-covid-test-2021-12-01/
A traveller arrives at the international terminal at Sydney Airport, as countries react to the new coronavirus Omicron variant amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sydney, Australia, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/file photo
Australia's tally of people with the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 edged higher on Thursday, prompting state governments to bolster domestic border controls as health experts wait to learn more about the dangers posed by the strain.
The country's most populous state, New South Wales, reported its seventh case of the variant, a person who arrived on Nov. 23 from Doha, Qatar, and noted that the person had not been in southern Africa, suggesting they caught the virus on the flight.
While the Australian federal government has urged states to avoid a return to the stop-start lockdowns that have defined the country's virus response, health authorities urged caution until they knew more about Omicron's infectiousness and virulence.
"We know this virus is dangerous, it does come out in some different forms," New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard told reporters.
"Don't take it lightly."
The state's capital, Sydney, Australia's largest city, came out of nearly four months of lockdown to contain a Delta outbreak in early October and has been gradually easing curbs as vaccination rates have risen.
But other state governments have been upping their restrictions on interstate arrivals. South Australia, which has no recorded Omicron cases, said it would make all people arriving from New South Wales take a COVID test.
The tourism-friendly island state of Tasmania said this week it would ban most overseas arrivals, at odds with federal government moves to allow vaccinated Australians entry into the country if they undertake home quarantine.
Australia has also delayed by two weeks its plan to reopen borders to skilled migrants and foreign students, while citizens returning from southern African countries must undertake two weeks of hotel quarantine.
Australia's closed international border and tough restrictions on domestic movement helped it avoid the high numbers of COVID-19 deaths recorded in many other countries, with about 212,000 cases and 2,000 deaths.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-omicron-count-edges-higher-health-authorities-edge-2021-12-02/
By Hyonhee Shin
People wait in a line to undergo coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at its testing site in central Seoul, South Korea, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
South Korea's daily coronavirus case numbers rose to a new high on Thursday, as authorities halted quarantine exemptions for fully vaccinated inbound travellers for two weeks in a bid to fend off the Omicron variant.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 5,266 cases for Wednesday, a day after the daily tally rose above 5,000 for the first time amid concerns over a sharp rise in patients with severe symptoms.
South Korea will require a 10-day quarantine for all inbound travellers for two weeks starting Friday, halting exemptions given earlier to fully vaccinated people, the KDCA said.
The measure came after South Korea confirmed its first five cases of the Omicron variant late on Wednesday, including a fully vaccinated couple who arrived last week from Nigeria, followed by two of their family members and a friend.
The government is restricting arrivals from eight countries including South Africa, where the variant was first identified. It will now add Nigeria to the list, effective Friday, while suspending direct flights from Ethiopia starting Saturday, the KDCA said.
"We're on a bumpy path toward a phased recovery of normalcy, and risks from the new Omicron variant are rising," President Moon Jae-in told a meeting with Christian groups on Thursday.
The country has fully inoculated nearly 92% of adults and is now focusing on vaccinating children and a booster programme, but experts have warned that cases could continue to rise due in part to the spread of the potentially more transmissible variant.
The number of cases has spiked since distancing curbs were relaxed last month, and the government this week shelved plans for further easing due to growing strains on its healthcare system from surging hospitalisation and death rates as well as Omicron concerns.
KDCA data showed the number of severe cases rose to a record 733, and 90% of intensive care unit beds in the greater Seoul area are occupied, with 915 patients waiting for admission.
Total infections rose to 457,612, with 3,705 deaths.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-hits-new-covid-19-record-halts-quarantine-exemptions-block-omicron-2021-12-02/
The top official of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, supports the establishment of a legally binding treaty.Credit...Pool photo by Fabrice Coffrini
The World Health Organization’s member states on Wednesday took the first step toward what many governments hope will be a legally binding treaty aimed at strengthening global defenses against pandemics.
A rare special session of the W.H.O.’s governing body agreed to set up an intergovernmental negotiating body that is to meet no later than March to begin negotiating an international agreement intended to ensure a more coherent and equitable response to future pandemics. But the United States and other countries have pushed for a weaker mechanism that would not carry legal obligations for member states.
The W.H.O. director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a strong advocate of a legally binding treaty, hailed the decision as historic, calling it “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the global health architecture to protect and promote the well-being of all people.”
The decision marked only the beginning of what promises to be arduous negotiations to try to achieve consensus among the W.H.O.’s 194 member countries. The agreement calls for negotiators to deliver the result of their deliberations in May 2024.
The European Union and Britain have pushed for months for an ambitious treaty or convention that carries legal force. The discovery of the Omicron variant, which has prompted a new wave of travel rules and border closures, primarily targeted at southern African nations where the variant was first identified, has renewed criticism that countries worldwide are acting in a patchwork and discriminatory fashion.
“No better response to the emergence of the Omicron variant than this coming together of the international community behind the effort to strengthen the legal framework underpinning our collective response to pandemics,” Simon Manley, Britain’s ambassador in Geneva, said on Twitter.
The United States described the initiative in a statement as “a momentous step” but, with support from Brazil and other countries, it refused to commit to anything that is legally binding, and kept open the possibility of a weaker instrument.
The international agreement is intended to avoid any repetition of the “fragmented and splintered” steps by nations that Dr. Tedros has said weakened the global response to Covid-19. Proponents of a treaty want commitments to share data, virus samples and technology, and to ensure an equitable distribution of vaccines.
Those issues raise politically sensitive questions of national sovereignty over access to the sites of outbreaks, and potential investigations into origins of diseases — a source of tension between Western governments and China, which has resisted calls for an independent inquiry into the emergence of Covid-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan in early 2020.
China said this week that it agreed “in principle with the ideas of further strengthening compliance, financing, sharing and information management.” But Beijing appeared wary of a new treaty and cautioned against “politicization, stigmatization and instrumentalization.”
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/world/who-pandemic-treaty.html
By Andrew Parsons and John Yoon
The empty check-in hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Tuesday.Credit...Carl Court/Getty Images
The Japanese government on Thursday reversed its decision a day earlier to require airlines to stop taking new bookings for all flights into the country for the rest of the year.
The move, which had represented a drastic extension of one of the world’s most far-reaching border closures in response to the Omicron variant, prompted worries among Japanese citizens and others who feared being stranded outside Japan.
Japanese airlines said on Thursday that they would resume taking some bookings for flights bound for Japan.
On Monday, Japan barred all nonresident foreigners from entering the country, and on Tuesday it closed its borders to all non-Japanese travelers, including permanent residents of Japan, from 10 southern African countries.
Japan confirmed its second Omicron case, in a traveler from Peru, on Wednesday. Its first case, confirmed on Tuesday, involved a traveler from Namibia.
Japan had only tentatively opened last month to business travelers and students, despite recording the highest vaccination rate among the world’s wealthy democracies — and after seeing its coronavirus caseloads plunge by 99 percent since August.
In South Korea, five cases of the Omicron variant were confirmed on Wednesday among inbound travelers, according to health officials.
On Thursday, as a record 5,266 new daily cases were announced, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that quarantines exemptions would be halted starting Friday for inbound travelers from all countries. Visitors must observe a 10-day quarantine period and three rounds of P.C.R. tests.
The government is also considering expanding genomic sequencing for more inbound travelers, a South Korean Health Ministry spokesman, Son Young-rae, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/01/world/omicron-variant-covid/japan-halts-new-bookings-for-incoming-flights-through-december
A man walks past a coronavirus-themed mural in Jakarta, Indonesia, as the country tightens travel curbs in preparation for Omicron arrival. Photograph: Tatan Syuflana/AP
Authorities in Indonesia have tightened border curbs, extended quarantine and limited movement on strategic toll roads, in a preemptive move to limit the spread of the Omicron Covid variant, Reuters report.
The southeast Asian nation has also extended mandatory quarantine for arrivals from seven days to ten.
“This policy... will be evaluated every now and then as we understand and continue digging more information about this new variant,” senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan said in a statement on Wednesday.
Travel to Indonesia from 11 countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Nigeria, will not be allowed, except for returning Indonesians, who will be subjected to 14 days of isolation.
New domestic travel measures include limiting the volume of traffic on toll roads to reduce people movement, according to the transport minister.
Official data in Indonesia shows a sharp reduction in new daily infections, with a daily average of about 400 last month compared to about 40,000 in July.
More than a third of its 270 million population are vaccinated.
It’s been another busy few hours as the world scrambles to make sense of the Omicron variant.
Here are the most important developments so far.
· Hong Kong’s quarantine is pushing Cathay Pacific pilots to “breaking point” as many seek work elsewhere, AFP reports.
· India has recorded another 9,765 daily Covid cases and 277 for Wednesday, according to an update from the health ministry.
· Germany has reported another 73,209 new Covid cases for Wednesday and 388 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
· China is reporting 73 new Covid cases for Wednesday, a decrease from the 113 reported Covid cases a day earlier, Reuters reports.
· South Korea has reported a new daily record in Covid cases with 5,266 cases recorded on Wednesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
· A large number of temporary and bridging Australian visa holders will be cut off from their families this Christmas despite the planned easing of border restrictions, causing further agony and uncertainty for those stuck in the country.
· The heavily mutated Omicron variant has propelled a sharp rise in Covid cases in South Africa as health experts describe the degree of increase as “worrying”. The variant now accounts for 74% of all the virus genomes sequenced in the nation
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/dec/02/coronavirus-news-live-south-africa-sees-exponential-increase-in-covid-cases-dominated-by-omicron-variant?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-61a851ad8f08988db2bebf9e#block-61a851ad8f08988db2bebf9e last month.
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