Thanks for joining us for today’s live Covid blog.
We have set up a new page where you can find all the latest coronavirus developments here.
US Defense Secretary Austin tests positive for Covid
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had mild symptoms on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Austin is said to retain all authorities while he quarantines at home for the next five days.
In a statement, Austin said he requested a test earlier on Sunday after having symptoms while at home on vacation.
He said he last met President Joe Biden on Tuesday, 21 December, more than a week before he started experiencing symptoms.
Here is a summary of developments today:
- In England masks are returning to secondary school classrooms as Omicron continues to spread across the country. A further 137,583 new cases of Covid-19 and 73 deaths reported in England and Wales.
- The government has told headteachers in England to start preparing for staff shortages by using support staff as fill-in teachers, combining classes or using hybrid learning.
- France has put the United States on its Covid-19 travel “red list”, meaning unvaccinated people coming into the country will have to quarantine for 10 days.
- France announced an easing of Covid restrictions from Monday. Fully vaccinated people in France who test positive will now only have to isolate for seven days, and can leave quarantine after five days if they show a negative test. The country also reported 58,432 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period - a record seven-day average for new Covid cases.
- Dutch police dispersed anti-lockdown protesters in Amsterdam on Sunday.
- India reported 27,553 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours and Covid-19 deaths rose by 284.
- Israel is to offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for the over-60s and medical staff. The country reported 4,206 new daily Covid infections marking a 195% increase over the past week.
- Twitter has permanently suspended the account of US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Republican repeatedly violated its policy on Covid misinformation.
- Wintry weather and the coronavirus pandemic caused more than 2,300 US flights and more than 3,900 worldwide to be cancelled.
- South Africa has recorded 4,379 new identified coronavirus cases with 30 deaths.
- The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci said the US has been seeing almost a “vertical increase” of new Covid cases adding he’s concerned the Omicron variant is causing “major disruption” on essential services.
- Dr Fauci, said hospitalisation figures form a better guide to the severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant than the traditional case-count of new infections.
- Argentine football star Lionel Messi was one of four Paris Saint-Germain players to test positive for coronavirus, the club announced shortly before a French Cup match.
US may impose Covid test requirement for asymptomatic
US federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans with Covid, the White House’s top medical adviser said Sunday.
Dr Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering including the negative test as part of its guidance after getting significant “pushback” on its updated recommendations last week, the Associated Press reports.
Under that 27 December guidance, isolation restrictions for people infected with Covid-19 were shortened from 10 days to five days if they are no longer feeling symptoms or running a fever. After that period, they are asked to spend the following five days wearing a mask when around others.
The guidelines have since received criticism from many health professionals for not specifying a negative antigen test as a requirement for leaving isolation.
Fauci said:
There has been some concern about why we don’t ask people at that five-day period to get tested,” Fauci said. “Looking at it again, there may be an option in that, that testing could be a part of that, and I think we’re going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the CDC.”
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog to kick off the new year.
I’ll share some Covid numbers out of Australia which is where I will be reporting to you from.
NSW has recorded 20,794 new Covid cases with 1,204 people in hospital, a jump from 1,066 yesterday.
Victoria recorded 8,577 new Covid cases and three deaths. Hospitalisations have also slightly risen to 491 people in hospital.
Prime minister Scott Morrison has stressed Australia’s health systems are more than equipped to handle a rising number of Omicron infections.
Morrison has urged people not to solely focus on case numbers, despite infections exploding in states and territories in recent days.
However, he said levels of Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care and on ventilators remained stable following the rise in cases.
“It’s important that with the rising case numbers, we see that the severeness of this illness is already being shown to be around 75% less than what we saw with Delta,” Morrison told the Seven Network on Monday.
“Rising case numbers is part of the Omicron period, it’s part of the new phase of the pandemic we’re in.”
The BBC reports that Israel’s top health adviser has said the surge in Omicron cases could see the country reach Covid herd immunity,
However, Nachmann Ash insisted he wanted to see herd immunity achieved via vaccinations instead.
“The price of herd immunity is very many infections, and that may end up happening. The numbers need to be high to reach herd immunity, it’s something that is possible,” he explained.
“But we don’t want to reach it by means of infections, we want it to happen as a result of many people vaccinating.”
Meanwhile, Salman Zarka, head of the health ministry’s coronavirus taskforce, warned that herd immunity was not guaranteed.
Mr Zarka told the Ynet news website: “We have to be very cautious with this particularly in light of our experience over the past two years in which we saw people who have recovered be re-infected.”
Brazil registered 28 Covid-19 deaths on Sunday and 1,721 additional cases, according to data released by the nation’s Health Ministry, reports Reuters.
It has now recorded a total of 619,133 coronavirus deaths and 22,293,228 confirmed cases.
The numbers do not reflect data from six states and the federal district on Sunday.
Following a hacker attack on December 10, some of the health ministry’s databases have been offline which has affected the monitoring of the pandemic.
In absolute terms, Brazil has the world’s third-highest death toll behind the United States and Russia, and is third in the number of people infected after the United States and India.
Israel has reported 4,206 new daily Covid infections marking a 195% increase over the past week
Israel has reported 4,206 new Covid infections over the past 24 hours, authorities said.
This marks a 195% increase over the past week, Agence France-Presse reports.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that cases could surge to around “50,000 cases per day soon”, urging all adults and children to get vaccinated.
More than four million people out of Israel’s population of 9.2 million have received three shots of the coronavirus vaccine.
A total of almost 1.4 million cases of Covid infection, including 8,244 deaths, have been officially recorded in Israel.
Updated
An update to our story on the Amsterdam protest against Covid-19 lockdown measures and vaccinations (see 13.36).
At least 30 people were detained after scuffles, during which four officers were injured, police said in a statement.
Reuters reports:
Public gatherings of more than two people are prohibited under restrictions imposed by the Netherlands in an effort to prevent the Omicron variant of the coronavirus overwhelming an already strained healthcare system.
The protesters, who mostly did not wear masks or abide by social distancing rules, ignored an order not to hold a march and walked along a main thoroughfare, playing music and holding yellow umbrellas in a sign of opposition to government measures.
The Netherlands went into a sudden lockdown on December 19, with the government ordering the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until at least January 14.
Updated
Wintry weather and the coronavirus pandemic frustrated US travellers as return flights from holidays were cancelled or delayed in the first days of the new year.
By early afternoon on Sunday, more than 2,300 US flights and more than 3,900 worldwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware.
That followed Saturday cancellations of more than 2,700 US flights and more than 4,700 worldwide.
The single-day US toll on Saturday was the highest since just before Christmas, when airlines began blaming staffing shortages on increasing Covid-19 infections among crews.
The New York Times reports that Twitter has permanently suspended the account of US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Republican repeatedly violated its policy on Covid misinformation. Her tweets included unfounded allegations that vaccines didn’t work and killed people.
According to the publication: “Twitter said that Ms Greene had a fifth ‘strike’, which meant that her account will not be restored.”
Updated
France reports record seven-day average for new Covid cases
France has reported 58,432 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, a figure much lower than the previous four days when daily additional infections were over 200,000, reports Reuters.
However, the seven-day moving average of new cases in France, which smoothes out daily reporting irregularities, reached a new all-time high of 162,041 – jumping almost fivefold in a month. It says on days following a public holiday – as New Year’s Day was – new reported cases tend to dip, so the sharp drop does not necessarily indicate a change of trend.
Updated
The UK’s education secretary has said face-to-face teaching will continue and remain “the norm” as he outlined a series of Covid measures for schools.
Nadhim Zahawi outlined the measures in a Twitter thread. He said secondary pupils will have to wear masks in classrooms and will be able to access on-site coronavirus tests at school.
Testing 🥼
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) January 2, 2022
Face-to-face teaching will continue to be the expected norm, so all secondary schools have been asked to provide an on-site test for pupils.
We have ensured schools & colleges can order more tests through a separate route to continue testing from home.
[2/8]
A further 7,000 air purifiers are promised, to add to the 1,000 already announced, alongside 350,000 CO2 monitors.
He has also called upon former and retired teachers to return to bring additional support with a “Blitz” spirit.
Workforce 👨🏽🏫
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) January 2, 2022
I have asked former teachers who have either left the profession or retired to come forward to temporarily support workforces for the new term.
I know many have stepped forward and it's this Blitz spirit that will be essential in turning the tide on Covid.
[5/8]
Read our full story here:
Updated
Israel to offer fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine for the over-60s and medical staff
Israel will offer a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff, Reuters reports.
Naftali Bennett, the prime minister, made the announcement on Sunday amid a surge in Omicron variant infections, saying the country’s top medical officer had approved the shot.
“The Omicron wave is here and we must protect ourselves,” Bennett told a news conference.
Israel on Thursday authorised a fourth Covid vaccine for those with weakened immunity, becoming one of the first countries to do so.
Updated
Goldman Sachs Group is encouraging its eligible US staff to work from home until January 18, a company spokesperson said.
Goldman has followed a number of its rivals in altering return-to-office plans as the Omicron variant spreads, Reuters reports.
Its offices will continue to remain open with previously announced Covid-19 safety measures, the spokesperson added.
These include: a vaccine requirement; booster requirement for all eligible populations effective February 1; bi-weekly testing effective from January 10, and mandatory masks.
Goldman was among the Wall Street banks pushing hard to bring staff back into offices. It had also held out and tried to keep most staff working in the offices through the Omicron variant’s surge.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, which was also among those pushing staff to work in its offices, told workers last week they could work from home for the first two weeks of January. However, in a memo to employees it said that all staff are expected to return to offices no later than February 1.
In an editorial, The Guardian reflects on whether we can learn lessons from Covid in preparation for the next pandemic.
Though at times it can feel hard to believe – especially in recent weeks, perhaps – this pandemic will not last forever. With more than 5 million dead and huge economic and social costs, its toll has been immense, and unnecessarily so. Secrecy in China, complacency in Europe, reckless and callous rightwing populism in the US and Brazil, and the inequity in vaccine distribution have all contributed.
Yet if we learn its lessons, we will be better prepared next time. For there will be a next time
Updated
South Africa has recorded 4,379 new identified coronavirus cases with 30 deaths.
As of today the cumulative number of #COVID19 cases identified in SA is 3 472 436 with 4 379 new cases reported. Today 30 deaths have been reported bringing the total to 91 228 deaths. The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 3 197 017 with a recovery rate of 92.1% pic.twitter.com/vSPtZYuA4D
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) January 2, 2022
Updated
Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said the time for making Covid contingency plans was “weeks ago” and singles out the delay in tackling ventilation provisions.
She told Times Radio:
It was really galling to hear Boris Johnson over the weekend talk about contingency plans.
The time for contingency plans should have been weeks ago, the time for putting in ventilation.”
The impact of staff absences driven by the rise of Omicron variant is being felt by many essential services, including the care sector.
Cumbria-based care firm Bellcare, which has been short of staff for a while, says demand is so high for care services that there’s enough work for at least another 40 people.
Ian Wilson, director of Bellcare, told the BBC he worries about the impact of the variant on staff numbers.
The amount of people requiring care in the first place means that you generally run off your feet. As soon as you start losing staff it gets really, really awkward,” he said.
We may be in a position as a care sector where not everybody’s going to get the care they need. That’s the unfortunate truth and that’s obviously a major worry.
Updated
The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci said the US has been seeing almost a “vertical increase” of new Covid cases, now averaging 400,000 cases a day, with hospitalisations also up, reports the Associated Press.
We are definitely in the middle of a very severe surge and uptick in cases,” he said. “The acceleration of cases that we’ve seen is unprecedented, gone well beyond anything we’ve seen before.”
Fauci said he’s concerned that the omicron variant is causing “major disruption” on essential services.
When I say major disruption, you’re certainly going to see stresses on the system and the system being people with any kind of jobs ... particularly with critical jobs to keep society functioning normally,” he said.
We already know that there are reports from fire departments, from police departments in different cities that 10, 20, 25 and sometimes 30% of the people are ill. And that’s something that we need to be concerned about because we want to make sure that we don’t have such an impact on society that there really is a disruption. I hope that doesn’t happen.
An update on our earlier story (see 14.17) there were more than 3,800 flights cancelled around the world on Sunday, more than half of them US flights, reports Reuters.
The flights cancelled by early evening GMT on Sunday included more than 2,200 entering, departing from or within the United States, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com.
Globally, more than 8,800 flights were delayed.
Among the airlines with most cancellations were SkyWest and SouthWest, each having over 400 cancellations, FlightAware showed.
Updated
As Covid-19 case numbers have continued to rise following the arrival of the Omicron variant alongside the easing of restrictions in Australia, the focus has begun to turn to the positivity testing rate.
In New South Wales, where the rise in cases has been steepest, the infection rate as a proportion of the population is now one of the highest in the world. By New Year’s Eve the rate of infection was about 2.59 per 1,000 people, higher than the United States.
As cases have risen, so too has the positivity rate, which by Sunday had reached 20% in NSW. Other states have also experienced a steady increase in the ratio of positive cases. In Tasmania it reached 26% on Sunday, Victoria’s was 14.8% and Queensland’s 10.5%.
So what is the positivity rate? And what does it tell us about the spread of the virus as evidence of Omicron’s milder severity continues to mount and governments try to shift the focus away from case numbers?
Full report here
Sally Cutler, professor in Medical Microbiology at the University of East London has criticised the Government’s reaction to protecting education during the pandemic.
She told LBC:
It’s been painfully slow and the ventilation has been talked about for a long time. And they’ve got the units but they still haven’t been deployed to the schools.
They should have been fitting those over the period of closure during Christmas, and instead no they’re still working out how people are going to apply for them, which is ridiculous. But that’s the situation, unfortunately.
Professor Sally Jane Cutler criticises the government's 'painfully slow' progress in protecting education from the impacts of Covid.@DavidLammy pic.twitter.com/hiXJ9NcCKh
— LBC (@LBC) January 2, 2022
Sophie Black looks at how the pandemic has affected our friendship groups and social lives.
Pruning is usually a technique applied to roses in winter, but more recently the gardening term has been cropping up whenever sociologists talk about our social lives. People have been pruning friends.
Confined to our homes, or separated by borders, with too much time gifted to us in isolation, and new ways to communicate online, experts say we’ve unwittingly – or in some cases very deliberately – socially distanced ourselves out of a social life. Some say the silver lining is that we’ve been cured of Fomo, others say it heralds a widening of the already growing loneliness gap. So has everyone Marie Kondoed their mates, and what does this mean for the future of friendship?
The Press Association reports:
A total of 51,771,547 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by January 1, Government figures show.
This is a rise of 71 on the previous day but only Northern Ireland has reported new statistics.
Data for England, Scotland, and Wales will be updated after the holidays.
Fauci agrees hospitalisation figures a better guide to Omicron than case count
Richard Luscombe writes:
The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, has joined a growing body of experts who say hospitalisation figures form a better guide to the severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant than the traditional case-count of new infections.
Referring to the Omicron surge in the US as a “tsunami”, Fauci also cautioned the public not to be fooled by preliminary data suggesting the variant lacks the severity of earlier Covid-19 variants, such as Delta.
“You have a virus that looks like it might be less severe, at least from data we’ve gathered from South Africa, the UK and even some from preliminary data from here in the US,” he told CNN’s State of the Union.
The full report is here.
A further 137,583 new cases of Covid-19 and 73 deaths reported in England and Wales
A further 137,583 new cases of Covid-19 in England and Wales were reported today, compared with 162,572 cases in England on Saturday, according to government data.
There were 73 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in England and Wales, a drop on the 154 reported in England on Saturday.
The government said data for Scotland and Northern Ireland would be updated after the New Year holiday.
You can read the full report here.
Updated
The government has told head teachers in England to start preparing for staff shortages by using support staff as fill-in teachers, combining classes or using hybrid learning, with some classes taught remotely and some face-to-face.
In an email sent to schools on Sunday, the department for education (DfE) advised them to deal with staff shortages by combining classes into larger groups.
The DfE advised:
You may wish to use existing teaching, temporary and support staff more flexibly where required to ensure your setting remains open, whilst ensuring that you continue to have appropriate support in place for pupils with [special education needs and disabilities].
As pupils do not need to be kept in consistent groups, you may wish to consider combining classes.
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told school leaders in an open letter posted on Sunday that staff absences would be a “possible challenge” in keeping students in classrooms.
He said:
If operational challenges caused by workforce shortages in your setting make delivery of face-to-face teaching impossible, I would encourage you to consider ways to implement a flexible approach to learning.
Flexible delivery involves utilising all your available teaching and non-teaching workforce to maximise on-site education for as many pupils as possible while you flexibly deliver provision either on-site or remotely to some pupils.
As a new term is set to start for schools across the UK and the government announces masks will return for secondary pupils in England’s classrooms, we take a look at the potential impact of Omicron on children.
How prevalent is Covid among children?
According to case data for the week to 27 December 2021 – which is based on infections picked up by testing – rates are currently highest among young adults. However, rates per 100,000 people are also high among children, at 1,126.5 for those aged 10 to 14, and 836.2 for those aged five to nine.
Further insights come from the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, revealing that in the week ending 23 December infection levels in England were highest among those aged two to Year 6 and those aged 25 to 34, at about one in 15 people for both groups.
An estimated one in 20 of secondary school-aged children to Year 11 in England had Covid in the same week, compared with one in 45 of those aged 50 to 69 and one in 100 of those aged 70 and over.
Read more here:
Sri Lanka is facing a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis with fears it could go bankrupt in 2022 as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry.
The meltdown faced by the government, led by the strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is in part caused by the immediate impact of the Covid crisis and the loss of tourism but is compounded by high government spending and tax cuts eroding state revenues, vast debt repayments to China and foreign exchange reserves at their lowest levels in a decade. Inflation has meanwhile been spurred by the government printing money to pay off domestic loans and foreign bonds.
The World Bank estimates 500,000 people have fallen below the poverty line since the beginning of the pandemic, the equivalent of five years’ progress in fighting poverty.
Inflation hit a record high of 11.1% in November and escalating prices have left those who were previously well off struggling to feed their families, while basic goods are now unaffordable for many. After Rajapaksa declared Sri Lanka to be in an economic emergency, the military was given power to ensure essential items, including rice and sugar, were sold at set government prices – but it has done little to ease people’s woes.
Read the full story by my colleagues Minoli Soysa and Hannah Ellis-Petersen here:
Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, said there was still a danger of a surge in hospitalisation due to a large number of coronavirus cases even as early data suggests the Omicron Covid-19 variant is less severe.
Fauci said in an interview on Sunday with CNN:
The only difficulty is that if you have so many many cases, even if the rate of hospitalisation is lower with Omicron than it is with Delta, there is still the danger that you will have a surging of hospitalisations that might stress the healthcare system.
The head of one of England’s biggest academy trusts has said that while enforcing masks in classrooms is “not optimum”, it’s “better than working at home” for children.
Speaking to Sky News, Rev Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Community Learning, said:
We all know the impact of children being out of school, the impact on their lives, their life chances, their homes, their parents ability to get out and work etc, etc, so it’s not ideal but it’s better than not being in school.
We can’t afford lost days of schooling for these children and we know from reports in the media, the tragic cases in the media, that children being left on their own is not good for them, its not good for society.
He added his trust had bought 150,000 masks for pupils and had prepared for the possibility of returning to online learning from home with the purchase of an iPad for every student.
He said 10% of staff had been off work after testing positive for coronavirus or with other illnesses before Christmas, and staffing was still “the biggest unknown”.
However, he said the Department for Education had supplied enough tests for the school.
“For schools, the DfE have done a great job and we have all the testing kits that we need,” he said. “Of course every child needs to be tested before they return to school so we’ve got staggered start dates.”
Unvaccinated US travellers added to French quarantine list
France has put the United States on its Covid-19 travel “red list”, meaning unvaccinated people coming into the country will have to quarantine for 10 days.
The rules will not change for fully vaccinated people coming into France from the US, they still have to show proof of a negative test before boarding their flight.
The move puts the US, where new infections are topping 300,000 a day due to the Omicron variant, on the same list as countries such as Russia, Afghanistan, Belarus and Serbia.
France is also grappling with record levels of new infections, with 200,000 cases reported daily over the last four days.
Health minister Ed Argar has said the UK government is “doing the responsible and sensible thing” by asking the public sector to prepare for a worst-case scenario of up to a quarter of staff off work.
It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned that cutting the Covid-19 isolation period to five days would be “counterproductive”, and could actually exacerbate staffing shortages.
In a blog published on Saturday it said: “In some settings, such as hospitals, it could actually worsen staff shortages if it led to more people being infected.”
This comes as public sector leaders have been asked to prepare for a worst-case scenario of up to a quarter of staff off work as coronavirus continues to sweep across the country.
The Cabinet Office said on Saturday that, so far, disruption caused by Omicron had been controlled in “most parts of the public sector”. But it said leaders had been asked to test plans against 10%, 20% and 25% workforce absence rates.
Argar told Times Radio this was a “responsible” move from the government: “What you’re talking about there is government doing the responsible and sensible thing of preparing for a range of contingencies, making sure that it considers all possible eventualities, even those that are at the very high end of the scale.”
On whether he thought such absence levels were likely to eventuate, Argar said: “I think we model a range of scenarios up to things we think are highly unlikely, but you still do it because that’s what a responsible government does in preparing for all eventualities.”
Pressed on the prospect of cutting the isolation period to five days, Argar said the government had not yet received scientific advice to that effect:
The clinical advice or scientific advice we have is around (moving) it from 10, as we have done, to seven days. We haven’t received scientific advice that it should go lower than that, and we will follow the scientific advice.
I can entirely understand trusts and others wanting to use whatever levers they have to try to manage and reduce those staff absences but in something like this around the self-isolation period... it’s right that we follow scientific advice and we haven’t had scientific advice to cut that at this point.
The Omicron variant has shown the need for a permanent short-time working scheme in the UK to protect jobs during periods of economic turbulence, writes Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.
After cutting off furlough prematurely in the autumn, the government watched as Omicron hammered our arts, hospitality and aviation sectors in the run-up to Christmas.
While the chancellor’s 11-hour rescue package for pubs, restaurants and theatres will help some, serious damage has already been done to pay packets and to livelihoods. We need to end this stop-start approach to managing our economy.
Businesses and working families shouldn’t be put through an emotional rollercoaster every time the pandemic flares up. They need financial certainty and stability so that when better times return our economy can bounce back fast.
More than 3,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday, more than half of them US flights, adding to a week of travel disruption due to adverse weather and the surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Over 3,300 flights had been cancelled by noon GMT on Sunday, including over 1,900 entering, departing from or within the US, according to a running tally on the tracking website FlightAware.com.
The Christmas and New Year holidays are typically a peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights as pilots and crew quarantine.
Transportation agencies across the US were also suspending or reducing services due to coronavirus-related staff shortages.
US authorities registered at least 346,869 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally. The US death toll from Covid-19 rose by at least 377 to 828,562.
US airline cabin crew, pilots and support staff were reluctant to work overtime during the holiday travel season, despite offers of hefty financial incentives.
Many workers feared contracting Covid-19 and did not welcome the prospect of dealing with unruly passengers, some airline unions said.
In the months preceding the holidays, airlines were wooing employees to ensure solid staffing, after furloughing or laying off thousands over the last 18 months as the pandemic hobbled the industry.
Bulgaria has detected its first 12 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the country’s chief health inspector, Angel Kunchev, has said.
“We have confirmed the new variant in samples from 12 people,” Kunchev told reporters.
“From now on we can expect a faster spread of the infection. Omicron will gradually become the dominant variant as it has already happened in many European Union countries.”
Kunchev said the infected nine men and three women, mainly from the capital Sofia, were experiencing mild symptoms and none was hospitalised.
Bulgaria’s health authorities will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether additional measures would be needed to curb the spread of the new variant.
Kunchev said Bulgaria has already taken the most important step, offering a one-off cash bonus of 75 levs ($43.62) to pensioners who opt to get vaccinated or get a booster dose in the EU’s least vaccinated member state.
Bulgaria has also shortened the period for a booster to three months after a full vaccination cycle.
“Neither of the people infected with Omicron has had a booster dose. We continue to think that a full inoculation plus a booster provides a high level of protection,” Kunchev said.
On Sunday, Bulgaria registered some 1,076 new cases.
Updated
Riot police with batons and shields tried to break up a crowd of several thousand who had gathered in the Dutch capital on Sunday to protest against Covid-19 lockdown measures and vaccinations.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema issued an emergency ordinance, empowering police to clear the central Museum Square, after the protesters violated a ban on holding public gatherings during the latest wave of coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.
The protesters, who mostly did not wear masks and broke social distancing rules, also ignored an order not to hold a march and walked along a main thoroughfare, playing music and holding yellow umbrellas in a sign of opposition to the government measures.
The Netherlands went into a sudden lockdown on 19 December, with the government ordering the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until at least 14 January.
Public gatherings of more than two people are prohibited under the current set of restrictions.
Like other European countries, the Netherlands imposed the measures in an effort to prevent a fresh wave of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that could overwhelm an already strained healthcare system.
Doctors specialising in children’s health have welcomed the government’s new measures to help keep schools in England open by reducing the risk of Covid spreading there.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) believes the move, including requiring mask-wearing in classrooms when term resumes next week, will help realise what it regards as a key principle, namely that “the best thing for children and young people is for schools to be the last places to close and the first places to open”.
Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the royal college of paediatrics and child health (RCPCH) said:
Early evidence is telling us that Omicron is no further risk to children and young people than other previous Covid-19 variants.
Schools are vital to the broader wellbeing of children and young people, providing social interaction and recreational activities as well as a range of services from vaccinations to mental health and wellbeing support.
As such, we welcome the government’s commitment to the underlining principle of keeping schools open, and for keeping the health and wellbeing of children and young people front of mind when policymaking on the return to school.
School unions, though, are much less supportive, as the Guardian’s education editor Richard Adams reported earlier.
Kingdon added:
Any national or local interventions in schools should always be supported by good evidence, be entirely proportionate and adequately resourced to support continuing education for children and young people.
Last-minute moves to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid in schools, colleges and universities in England will not be enough to avoid disruption or stop large-scale absences among staff and students, unions and school leaders have warned.
The Department for Education announced that masks should be worn indoors in education setting in England, including in classrooms, libraries and corridors, from the start of the new term until the end of January.
It also said it had ordered 7,000 air purification units for nurseries, schools and colleges, “for areas where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible, such as being able to open a window”. But the units will not be delivered until next month.
School staff unions, which have repeatedly called for additional measures, criticised the government for failing to take action earlier as Covid infections rose rapidly among students and staff.
“An increase in the use of face coverings and better ventilation are welcome but should have been in place before Christmas to have slowed the infection in schools,” said Jon Richard, Unison’s assistant general secretary.
Data from the Office for National Statistics show that school-age children have been among the most likely to be infected, with more than one in 20 primary-age children and one in 35 secondary-age children testing positive for Covid in December.
Read more here:
New infections in Saudi Arabia at highest level since August
Daily coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia have climbed above 1,000 for the first time since August, while daily infections in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) haven crossed the 2,500-level.
Authorities in the two Gulf Arab states did not break down the cases by Covid-19 variant. Both countries confirmed their first known case of the Omicron variant in early December.
Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf state with a population of around 30 million, on Sunday registered 1,024 new coronavirus infections and one death. Daily cases had fallen below 100 in September.
Neighbouring UAE, a tourism and commercial hub now marking its peak tourism season and hosting a world fair, announced 2,600 new coronavirus cases and three deaths.
Daily infections in the UAE rose above 2,000 on Dec. 29, after having fallen below 100 in October.
The UAE said on Saturday it would ban non-vaccinated citizens from traveling abroad from Jan. 10 and that fully vaccinated citizens would also require a booster shot to be eligible to travel.
The latest daily Covid figures are still below a peak of nearly 4,000 hit in the UAE last January when visitors flocked to the country, and a record of over 4,700 in Saudi Arabia in June 2020, according to Reuters data.
Updated
The Kuwaiti embassy in the UK has encouraged its citizens to leave the country due to a “significant and unprecedented” increase in Omicron cases there, the Gulf country’s state news agency reported on Sunday.
The daily number of new COVID-19 infections across Britain rose to a record 189,846 on Friday, far higher than during previous peaks.
The UK government is being urged to make sure enough Covid-19 tests are available for schoolchildren and staff.
Currently, the Department for Education recommends children and fully vaccinated adults who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus perform lateral flow tests twice a week.
But health secretary Sajid Javid last week said ministers expect a need to “constrain” supply for a fortnight amid surging demand.
General concerns over supply issues have prompted calls from the Labour Party and a headteachers’ union for the government to make sure the tests are available for schools.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:
The difficulties the public have had in accessing lateral flow tests over the past few weeks has made many people nervous that they will not be available when needed for school staff and pupils.
If lateral flow tests are to be critical to enabling pupils and staff to return to school quickly then there must be a ready supply available for schools as they go back in January and throughout the term.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said:
I think there are two things, though, that the government can and should be doing. The first is on testing. Pupils should be testing twice a week.
There’s lots of evidence to suggest that hasn’t been happening properly.
So the message for government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.
And my message to parents and pupils is ‘do take the tests’ because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.
According to Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), there are currently no concerns over the supply of lateral flow tests to schools.
He said:
With regards to the availability of lateral flow test kits, schools and colleges are able to order them through an online ordering system, and were advised to place orders before the Christmas holidays if more kits were needed for the start of term.
These orders are due to be delivered in the week commencing January 3, and we have not been notified by the government of any issues affecting supply.
The department for education has been contacted for comment.
Boris Johnson has instructed ministers to come up with “robust contingency plans” for workplace absences as it emerged that the government is concerned about the impact record numbers of daily Covid infections could have on businesses in the coming weeks.
The Cabinet Office confirmed that, despite the accelerated booster programme, public sector leaders have been asked to prepare for a worst case scenario that would see up to a quarter of workers being off work due to high Covid levels in the population.
The department claimed that, so far, disruption caused by Omicron has been controlled in “most parts of the public sector”, but acknowledged that public sector leaders have been asked to play through “worst case scenarios” of 10%, 20% and 25% workforce absence rates, PA reported.
Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, is chairing “regular meetings” with ministers to assess how workforces, supply chains and schools are affected as the Omicron Covid variant is sweeping across the country.
The department admitted businesses and public services could face further disruption in coming weeks and that Johnson has tasked ministers to test contingency plans and explore solutions that are hoped to save their relevant sectors from bottleneck scenarios caused by a temporarily significantly diminished workforce.
The news comes after the Daily Telegraph reported that the government’s work-from-home guidance in England could remain in place for most of January.
Barclay said: “As people return to work following the Christmas break, the high transmissibility levels of Omicron mean business and public services will face disruption in the coming weeks, particularly from higher than normal staff absence.
“We have been working through the Christmas period to prepare where possible for this, with all departments liaising closely with public and private sector leaders who are best placed to operationally manage their workforces. The best way to combat Omicron is to get boosted and I encourage anyone who is eligible to get boosted now.”
Read the full story here:
As the US is seeing record numbers of daily coronavirus cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, public health authorities nationwide have said that teens and younger adults are helping fuel this increase.
The uptick in Covid-19 among the under-50s coincides with a surge in cases among young children – and a troubling increase in paediatric hospitalisations.
The US seven-day average for paediatric hospitalisations increased 58%, to 334, between 21 December and 27 December. The increase in hospitalisations for all age groups was about 19%. Less than 25% of US children are vaccinated, Reuters reported.
In Los Angeles county, adults between 18 and 49 accounted for more than 70% of the coronavirus cases recorded between 22 December and 28 December, according to the Los Angeles Times. The case rate per 100,000 people has surged most quickly in that age range.
The county saw more than 27,000 new cases on 31 December, dramatically surpassing the winter 2021 daily case average of 16,000. About 25% of all coronaviruses tests in Los Angeles county are positive, according to the newspaper.
Broken down further, data show that infection rates in persons from 18 to 29 are more than eight times higher than one month ago. With adults in their 30s and 40s, there are six times as many cases.
Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, said:
Many of the people in this age group are important members of our labor force … and these are also folks that are very likely to be out and about for recreation.
Often this age group doesn’t experience the worst consequences of increased transmission,” Ferrer continued. “And sometimes that’s made it more difficult for individuals to stay attentive to the need to be vigilant about adhering to all of the public health safety measures.
Read the full story here:
Here’s a useful thread from Bethan Staton, a reporter for the Financial Times on what the government could be planning regarding remote learning:
Papers splashing on masks in classrooms, but more interesting is Education Secretary encouraging schools to consider flexible learning -- ie move some teaching online to ensure essential face-to-face stuff continues.
— Bethan Staton (@bethanstaton) January 2, 2022
Means remote learning likely to be back in some form this term pic.twitter.com/b6nctHod9B
Green light for moving teaching online is in this open letter to education leaders published this morning
— Bethan Staton (@bethanstaton) January 2, 2022
Says it should be "a short-term measure and settings should return to full-time in-person attendance for all pupils as soon as practicable" https://t.co/hry2Qk4gl7
Masks-in-class announcement has gone down badly, cos school leaders only learned about it from newspapers today
— Bethan Staton (@bethanstaton) January 2, 2022
Looks like government hasn't learned from last years comms disaster (and breakdown of trust) -- teachers need clear info in advance!! BUT...https://t.co/ZqvpV629ho
Flexibility on online learning suggests gov has been listening *a bit*. Many teachers reckon insisting schools remain 100% open no matter what contributed to eventual closure, and have called for schools to make local decisions to move partly online
— Bethan Staton (@bethanstaton) January 2, 2022
Rolling out ventilation units to schools will involve a number of practical issues, an academic has said.
Professor Mark Mon-Williams, of the University of Leeds, which is leading a trial of air cleaning equipment in 30 schools in Bradford, told BBC News:
There are a number of different issues, such as does the room have enough plug sockets, how many units are you going to put in classrooms?
There are other issues, such as delivering the units and cleaning the filters that are present in these systems.
There are a number of different practical issues that really need to be understood in order for the rollout to be effective.
He added:
The more units you put in the lower the cost, but the cost is still substantial so the question is this - is this the best investment to make?
Williams, who said his university’s trial aims to provide evidence so that policy decisions can be made, added:
Ventilation is an incredibly powerful tool but not all schools are able to ventilate adequately and, of course, a number of our schools are positioned in areas of very poor air quality so opening up windows may produce other adverse consequences.
Ventilation is a fantastic tool but the question is, can we supplement that with these other air cleaning technologies?
The Omicron coronavirus variant could ease pressure on the German health system if it turns out to produce milder illness, even though infections are rising, the head of the country’s association of senior hospital doctors (VLK) said on Sunday.
VLK President Michael Weber said coronavirus would no longer be a threat to the health system if Omicron became as dominant in Germany as it is in South Africa, Britain or Denmark and if the infections are as predominantly mild as there, Reuters reports.
Weber told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper:
There is a realistic probability that the pandemic will also become endemic in this country.
As Omicron spreads in Germany, daily infections have been rising again in recent days after falling steadily in December, and the number of beds occupied in intensive care wards has also ticked up.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has also expressed optimism that Omicron seems to be less dangerous than previous variants, but he noted that it still posed a risk to older people who are not vaccinated.
Lauterbach told Bild am Sonntag newspaper:
The first vaccination drastically reduces the risk of death after only 14 days. I appeal to people: Get vaccinated!
On Sunday, Germany reported 12,515 new infections, with the seven-day incidence per 100,000 people rising to 222.7 from 220.3 the previous day. Another 46 people died, bringing the death toll in the pandemic to 112,155.
Lauterbach also said wearing face masks remained important.
The viral load of those infected with Omicron is lower, which is why masks are more effective. Everyone should wear masks when meeting other people.
There may be differing reactions over the UK government’s decision to ask older students to wear face coverings in class again, a union leader has said.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News: “I don’t think that anybody is going to be hanging out the bunting at the thought of that.
There are all kinds of reasons why you wouldn’t want face coverings.
Parents quite legitimately in England might be saying ‘well, if my child was going to school in Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland - what’s so different? Why are they wearing face coverings there if it is seen as helpful?’
Secondly, if this is a short-term fix, as the Government says, and one of a number of different measures including ventilation and moving Ofsted to the sidelines – if that is going to do what we all want and keep young people in their school or in college then that will, I think, be a price worth paying.
Updated
Israel says it is possible it could reach herd immunity
A surge of Omicron infections could see Israel reaching herd immunity, the country’s top health official said on Sunday as daily cases continued to climb.
Worldwide infections have hit a record high, with an average of just over a million cases detected a day between 24 and 30 December, according to Reuters data. Deaths, however, have not risen in kind, bringing hope the new variant is less lethal.
Until late December, Israel managed to stave off Omicron to some degree but with infection rates now gaining pace, daily cases are expected to reach record highs in the coming three weeks. This could result in herd immunity, said director-general of the health ministry, Nachman Ash.
Ash told 103FM Radio:
The cost will be a great many infections. The numbers will have to be very high in order to reach herd immunity. This is possible but we don’t want to reach it by means of infections, we want it to happen as a result of many people vaccinating.
Herd immunity is the point at which a population is protected from a virus, either through vaccination or by people having developed antibodies by contracting the disease.
Around 60% of Israel’s 9.4 million population are fully vaccinated – almost all with Pfizer /BioNTech’S vaccine – according to the health ministry, which means they have either received three doses or have had their second dose recently. But hundreds of thousands of those eligible for a third inoculation have so far not taken it.
Around 1.3 million coronavirus cases have been documented in Israel since the start of the pandemic. But between two to four million people may well be infected by the end of January when the Omicron wave could subside, according to Eran Segal, data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an adviser to the government.
Head of the health ministry’s coronavirus taskforce, Salman Zarka, said herd immunity was far from guaranteed.
Zarka told Ynet TV:
We have to be very cautious with this particularly in light of our experience over the past two years in which we saw people who have recovered (from coronavirus) be re-infected.
Updated
There was a distinctive moment, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, that neatly encapsulated the mistakes and confusion of Britain’s early efforts to tackle the disease, says Mark Woolhouse. At a No 10 briefing in March 2020, cabinet minister Michael Gove warned the virus did not discriminate. “Everyone is at risk,” he announced.
And nothing could be further from the truth, argues Woolhouse, an expert on infectious diseases at Edinburgh University.
I am afraid Gove’s statement was simply not true. In fact, this is a very discriminatory virus. Some people are much more at risk from it than others. People over 75 are an astonishing 10,000 times more at risk than those who are under 15.
And it was this failure to understand the wide variations in individual responses to Covid-19 that led to Britain’s flawed responses to the disease’s appearance, he argues – errors that included the imposition of a long-lasting, national lockdown. This is a strategy that Woolhouse – one of the country’s leading epidemiologists – describes as morally wrong and highly damaging in his forthcoming book, The Year the World Went Mad: A Scientific Memoir.
He said:
We did serious harm to our children and young adults who were robbed of their education, jobs and normal existence, as well as suffering damage to their future prospects, while they were left to inherit a record-breaking mountain of public debt. All this to protect the NHS from a disease that is a far, far greater threat to the elderly, frail and infirm than to the young and healthy.
We were mesmerised by the once-in-a-century scale of the emergency and succeeded only in making a crisis even worse. In short, we panicked. This was an epidemic crying out for a precision public health approach and it got the opposite.
Read more here:
Dr Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), has disagreed with concerns about possible negative mental health effects of making masks compulsory in secondary schools.
Responding to a suggestion by Robert Halfon, chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee – who said he worried about the “negative impact” on young people’s mental wellbeing – she told Times Radio she wanted to see evidence of such claims.
She said:
Robert Halfon says it has a significant mental health effect. So I would really want to see the study that shows that.
We have mask-wearing in secondary schools in Wales and Scotland, and I don’t think that it is causing a huge problem.
Secondary school pupils wear masks in corridors and hallways and surely, Robert Halfon has been, you know, campaigning hard, quite rightly, to keep schools open.
Schools are crowded buildings. Even in secondary only just under half the pupils have been vaccinated. And we know that mask-wearing does have an effect of suppressing transmission.
The UK’s Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the “big challenge” for 2022 would be building the infrastructure to “live well” with Covid in order to avoid going in and out of lockdowns “like the Hokey Cokey”.
He told Sky News:
The big challenge for 2022 is how we put in place the infrastructure to make sure that we can live well with Covid without having to go in and out of lockdowns or other restrictions like the Hokey Cokey. I understand why people are tired of that.
So that means testing, I think, in particular... and getting the vaccine rollout continuing.
So if you haven’t had your first, second or booster jab, do it now. It really is the best tool, the best defence, we have against this virus.
Streeting said he would rather have masks worn in classrooms than children out of school.
Asked about the government’s decision to ask older students to wear face coverings in class again, he told Sky News:
I think in terms of schools, if the choice is between having masks at schools or children missing schools in huge numbers, of course we want to keep pupils learning. That’s got to be the priority.
I think there are two things, though, that the government can and should be doing. The first is on testing. Pupils should be testing twice a week. There’s lots of evidence to suggest that hasn’t been happening properly.
So the message for government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week.
And my message to parents and pupils is ‘do take the tests’ because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.
New Covid-19 cases in the locked-down Chinese city of Xi’an fell to their lowest in a week, health officials said Sunday, as residents face their eleventh day under strict home confinement.
China has followed a “zero Covid” approach involving tight border restrictions and swift, targeted lockdowns since the virus first surfaced in a central city in late 2019 – but this strategy has been put under pressure in recent weeks with a number of local outbreaks and cases remaining stubbornly high, AFP reports.
There were 122 fresh infections reported Sunday in the historic northern city - the lowest since December 25, and down from 174 on Saturday.
Zhang Canyou, from China’s disease control agency, told state broadcaster CCTV that after several rounds of testing in Xi’an and the impact of the lockdown, they had started to see “some positive changes”.
We will also make some adjustments to the prevention and control measures in a timely way.
However, there are 16 patients in a “severe” condition, according to the National Health Commission.
While low compared to numbers elsewhere, new infections in recent days have reached a high not seen in China since March 2020.
Since December 9 there have been more than 1,500 cases of the Delta strain reported in Xi’an, and health officials said at a press conference on Saturday that two patients are in a critical condition.
China has not recorded any deaths from Covid-19 since January 2021.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the UK government must “get its act together” on Covid testing supply.
He told Sky News:
The government does need to get its act together on the supply of testing.
And I think the health secretary needs to explain why it was that only three weeks ago he told me in the House of Commons that availability of tests wasn’t a problem. And yet now it so clearly is.
Robert Halfon, chairman of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, said he is worried about a possible negative impact of making masks compulsory for children in secondary schools.
Speaking on Times Radio, the Conservative MP said:
I do worry about the mask policy. The children’s minister came to my committee and said there was very limited evidence as to the efficacy of masks in educational settings.
Jonathan Van-Tam, hugely respected, the deputy chief medical officer, said that they could be quite inhibitory to the natural expressions of learning in children, the national Children’s Deaf Society has tweeted out their big reservations about mask policy, and what I worry about is the effect that masks have on children’s wellbeing, mental health and anxiety, and we already know that lockdown was a huge spike in children’s mental health problems.
He added:
So what I’d like the government to do is set out why they’re doing this, set out the evidence in the House of Commons.
I think there will be a statement on Tuesday, but I do worry masks in schools will have a negative impact.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the UK government’s plan to boost ventilation in schools goes “nowhere near” far enough.
He told Sky News:
They’ve made an announcement today that they’re going to send out 7,000 air purifiers to schools across the country.
I mean, that’s only one in four schools across England, so nowhere near enough. And I’m not clear from what the government said whether this is one system per school, or one air purifier per school – because obviously (there’s) a big difference between the two.
And again, I’m afraid it looks a little bit like a rushed last-minute announcement to give the appearance of doing something on a big issue where they should have taken action a lot sooner.
So I think the government’s got a lot more to do on ventilation in schools as well, as a key defence, a key mitigation, against the virus.
Desperate residents in China’s western Xi’an city are running out of food after they were barred from grocery shopping in a fierce lockdown. In the southern province of Guangxi, people who broke Covid laws were recently publicly shamed by being paraded through the streets in Hazmat suits with placards round their necks.
The rest of the world is learning, slowly and with some difficulty, to live with Covid-19, but in China, authorities are doubling down on their “zero-Covid” policy: trying to stamp out the disease whenever it appears, and at any cost. A single case in a border town led to 200,000 people being locked down late last month.
A key aspect of the policy is border closures. Few people are allowed in or out of China, and those who do enter the country face up three weeks of government-enforced quarantine. Some other countries locked the world out for over a year in a bid to lock out the pandemic. But in 2022, Beijing is treading an increasingly solitary path.
A combination of mass vaccination, social pressure and highly transmissible new variants has persuaded other once “zero-Covid” countries – including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore – to begin slowly opening up again to the world.
Inside China, some senior scientists and officials have also taken the political risk of calling for similar reopening, in recognition of a world where it seems Covid will become endemic. Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested recently that the country could be ready when vaccination rates pass 85%, perhaps early in 2022.
Others have joined scientists abroad, warning that even Beijing’s autocratic powers and popular support for lockdowns and other control measures may not be enough to keep highly transmissible new variants out.
“China will have great difficulty with Omicron and a zero Covid policy,” Tulio Oliveira, director of South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, said on Twitter. He is part of the team that first alerted the World Health Organisation to the new variant.
They may need to join the rest of the world with mitigation strategies. China should not punish its public health officials or citizens or foreigns because (of) a more transmissible variant.
Read more here:
India reported 27,553 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, as infections of the Omicron variant continued to rise, data from the health ministry showed on Sunday.
Covid-19 deaths rose by 284, taking the total death toll to 481,770, according to the health ministry, Reuters reports.
India has recorded a total of 34.88 million infections of the virus.
A growing body of evidence indicates that the Omicron Covid variant is more likely to infect the throat than the lungs, which scientists believe may explain why it appears to be more infectious but less deadly than other versions of the virus.
Six studies – four published since Christmas Eve – have found that Omicron does not damage people’s lungs as much as the Delta and other previous variants of Covid. The studies have yet to be peer-reviewed by other scientists.
Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at University College London, said:
The result of all the mutations that make Omicron different from previous variants is that it may have altered its ability to infect different sorts of cells.
In essence, it looks to be more able to infect the upper respiratory tract – cells in the throat. So it would multiply in cells there more readily than in cells deep in the lung. This is really preliminary but the studies point in the same direction.
If the virus produces more cells in the throat, that makes it more transmissible, which would help to explain the rapid spread of Omicron. A virus that is good at infecting lung tissue, on the other hand, will be potentially more dangerous but less transmissible.
Read the full story here:
The Labour leader Keir Starmer told the Observer that the government’s failure to shore up supplies of tests in response to Omicron’s emergence in November was “unforgivable”.
Starmer said parents should be testing their children at least twice a week to ensure they did not spread the disease to the older and more vulnerable, and it was up to government to ensure that tests were available for them to do so.
The Labour leader said:
Schools return next week, and in the past this has seen Covid spreading among children, who then take it home to their families.
As cases begin to rise in the more vulnerable age groups, so does concern for our elderly population. The government’s failure to prepare means it must now prioritise those who most urgently require tests, until it can get supply back to levels of demand.
Labour’s priorities, he said, would be protecting learning, the vulnerable and our emergency services and critical infrastructure. “Schools must stay open, because children have missed out on too much learning already.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the advice on mask wearing.
Face coverings are already advised in communal areas for pupils in year 7 and above. Pupils are accustomed to their use and we are sure the reintroduction of face coverings in classrooms is something that schools and colleges will take in their stride.
Earlier last year secondary school pupils in England were asked to wear masks in classrooms at a high point of infections though this was dropped when they slowed in the spring.
Before last night’s announcement, some secondary schools were already taking unilateral action, writing to parents saying masks would have to be worn in classrooms as part of efforts to avoid school closures.
In another sign of heightened concern, payouts worth hundreds of pounds are being offered to encourage ex-teachers to sign up to a government-inspired campaign to provide cover to schools hit by high levels of absences.
Supply agencies are promising cash or shopping vouchers for anyone who successfully “refers a friend”. Agencies are publicising the “call to arms” with online adverts offering minimum pay rates of about £130 a day.
Read more on this story from my colleagues Toby Helm, Robin McKie and Julie Henry:
France reducing isolation periods
France announced an easing of Covid restrictions from Monday, as governments across the world face tough choices between controlling the virus and keeping economies open.
Coronavirus cases have surged globally in recent weeks, fuelled by the emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and the pandemic dampened New Year’s celebrations yet again. Europe crossed 100 million known cases on Saturday.
Fully vaccinated people in France who test positive will now only have to isolate for seven days, and can leave quarantine after five days if they show a negative test.
The change in rules should allow a “benefit-risk balance aimed at ensuring the virus is controlled while maintaining socio-economic life”, the French health ministry said.
French authorities followed other countries such as the United States, which this week cut the isolation period to prevent disruptions in industries for lack of staff.
Olivier Veran, the French health minister, told newspaper le Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday:
This isolation could be lifted after five days in case of a negative test. Those who are not vaccinated will have to self-isolate for 10 days, with a possibility to come out of isolation after seven days under the same terms.
Updated
Masks advised for secondary school classrooms in England
Masks are returning to classrooms as Omicron continues to spread across the country ahead of children going back to school next week, which experts say could trigger a huge spike in cases.
The moves come after a health boss warned the “next few days are crucial” in the fight to reduce the impact of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant, as NHS staff work “flat out”.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi acknowledged the variant “presents challenges”, but said the government is taking steps to “bolster our support for schools” in an effort to minimise disruption when students return to their desks after the Christmas break.
Face coverings will return for secondary school pupils in England’s classrooms – having already been recommended in communal areas for older students and staff.
But the supply of 7,000 new air purifiers for areas of schools where good ventilation is difficult has been branded “completely inadequate” by NEU teaching union joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted, PA reports.
Bousted said that with “over 300,000 classrooms in England they (the government) have failed to provide an effective solution”.
Education committee chairman Robert Halfon said mask-wearing would have a “significant impact on children’s wellbeing”.
In comments in the Sunday Telegraph, the Tory MP said:
The government needs to supply the evidence. If masks are not required in offices or restaurants, why are we getting young kids to put them on?
Updated
