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Summary
Here’s a quick rundown of the day’s key developments:
- Thousands of US schools delayed a scheduled return to classrooms following the holiday break or switched to remote learning as the Omicron variant pushes Covid-19 cases to record levels.
- In Florida, Covid-19 cases have risen by 948% in just two weeks.
- Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, and his wife, Isaura, have tested positive for Covid-19 and are isolating, the president’s office said on Monday.
- The UK reported 157,758 new Covid cases today and 42 additional deaths.Cases rose by 50% between 28 December and 3 January compared with the week before. Deaths rose 17% during the same period compared with the previous seven days.
- Multiple NHS trusts have declared “critical incidents” amid soaring staff absences caused by Covid. Parts of the health service are in “crisis”, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation said.
- Canada’s most populous province of Ontario announced new restrictions - including closing down schools and shops operating at 50% capacity - as officials warned of a “tsunami” of new Covid cases.
- The US food and drug administration (FDA) has authorised the use of a third dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for children aged 12 to 15.
- Starbucks will require its US workers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo weekly testing in order to comply with new federal mandates, the company said in an update sent to employees on Monday.
- India vaccinated over 3.8 million 15- to 18-year-olds on Monday as the country expanded its vaccination drive.
- The Omicron variant is better at circumventing vaccinated people’s immunity than the Delta variant, but is very likely to be milder, according to a Danish study.
- Israel will allow foreigners with presumed Covid-19 immunity to enter from medium-risk countries from 9 January, the health ministry said on Monday.
The UK health secretary, Sajid Javid, has praised the team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, a year to the day since it was first given to a non-trial patients.
Brian Pinker, 82, received a dose of the vaccine at Oxford University Hospital at 7.30am on 4 January last year. Since then, about 50m doses of the vaccine have been given across the UK, with 2.5bn distributed to more than 170 countries.
The vaccine had “played an absolutely crucial role in our fight against Covid-19, saving countless lives in the UK and around the world”, Javid said.
I’m extremely proud of our world-leading researchers and scientists who are responsible for developing some of the most effective vaccines and treatments during the pandemic and the NHS for the incredible roll out.”
Pinker’s jab came just under a month after the first Covid vaccination in the UK, which involved the Pfizer vaccine. The UK now uses three different types: AstraZeneca, Pfizer and the one made by Moderna.
Javid was due to visit a vaccination centre in London later on Tuesday, as part of wider government efforts to encourage more people to have booster doses – which involve the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines only.
US schools delay openings as Omicron rages
Thousands of US schools delayed a scheduled return to classrooms following the holiday break or switched to remote learning as the Omicron variant pushes Covid-19 cases to record levels.
Cities including Milwaukee, Cleveland and Detroit either implemented online instruction or cancelled school altogether this week for tens of thousands of students, citing both staff shortages and Omicron concerns.
In New Jersey, which has seen some of the highest case rates in recent weeks, most urban school districts have implemented virtual classes to start the new year, including Newark, the state’s biggest city.
Nationally, there are more than 2,750 school closures so far this week, according to Burbio, a website that tracks school disruptions, Reuters reports.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog reporting from sunny Sydney.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
NSW and Victoria have reported record daily Covid cases as the national tally since the pandemic began tops 500,000.
NSW recorded 23,131 cases and two deaths with hospitalisations topping 1,300 and in Victoria cases surged to 14,020 with two deaths.
In Australia, the New South Wales teachers’ union has called for an urgent meeting with health and education officials to discuss safety at the onset of the new school year amid the growing Covid-19 outbreak in the state.
The NSW Teachers Federation president, Angelo Gavrielatos, warned absentee rates could cause chaos and said “serious questions” about safety needed to be answered before students return to classrooms in early February.
He told Guardian Australia on Monday:
The current plan is the plan we had when schools went into the vacation period. All that’s changed. We are now living in a very different context to what we were in the weeks prior to schools going into summer recess.
In highly vaccinated NSW, case numbers have exceeded 20,000 on some days over the Christmas period.
Gavrielatos said schools were already heavily disrupted in 2021, when far fewer cases circulated in the state, with an average of about 40 schools a day affected by staff or students testing positive.
He said:
That was at a time when numbers were but a fraction of what we’re seeing today. So clearly there’s a lot of concern.
The union is seeking an “urgent meeting” with education and health officials this week to ensure a proper plan is in place.
Gavrielatos said:
Who knows what that plan might look like? Who knows how many cases we might have? There are a number of scenarios potentially at play here, including the possibility of remote learning in certain settings.
Read more here:
Covid cases rise by 948% in Florida
Covid-19 cases in Florida have risen by 948% in just two weeks, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant drives a huge wave of infections and hospitalisations across the US.
Even as Dr Anthony Fauci – Joe Biden’s top medical adviser – cautioned the public to look at hospitalisations and not infections in order to gauge Omicron’s severity, the seven-day average for US patients hospitalised with Covid-19 increased by more than 40% during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Cases have risen by more than 100% nationally, despite tests being in short supply in many areas, and infections have doubled in the last seven days to an average of 418,000 a day, according to a Reuters tally.
In Florida, local and state officials warned that residents were waiting for hours in sometimes miles-long queues just to get a test. Some accused the state health department and the governor, Ron DeSantis, of being missing in action.
“It’s every man/woman for themselves, because leadership is MIA,” tweeted state senator Shevrin Jones.
Evidence suggests Omicron is a more mild, if highly infectious, variant. But it “will still do terrible damage among the unvaccinated in both the US and worldwide”, according to the New York Times.
Read more here:
Updated
The family gatherings have disbanded, the new year’s hangovers have lifted. Despite record Covid infection figures over the holiday period, evidence that the rate of increase in cases may be slowing has prompted speculation that London, at least, may be close to reaching “peak Omicron”.
Boris Johnson is said to be obsessed with this hypothetical time point, seeing it as crucial to how the Covid variant may play out nationwide. If hospitalisations follow the same trajectory and peak without the NHS being overwhelmed, the prime minister’s decision not to impose lockdown-style restrictions before the holiday period may be vindicated.
Johnson is correct that peak Omicron, when it comes, will be an important moment.
Dr Raghib Ali, a senior clinical research associate at the University of Cambridge’s MRC epidemiology unit said:
The reason it matters when it peaks – and particularly when cases peak in the over-50s – is it’s likely that a week later we’ll see the peak in hospitalisations, and roughly two weeks later, we’ll see a peak in the number of deaths. It’s helpful, because it helps us to plan ahead.
In London, cases appear to have stabilised, or even fallen during the past two weeks. New hospitalisations also appear to have stabilised in recent days, with 319 people admitted with Covid-19 on 31 December, compared with 450 the day before, and 511 the day before that.
Ali said:
We would guess, based on what case numbers are doing in London, that the peak in hospital admissions should be this week, and nationally, maybe a week later.
This is roughly in line with the scenarios outlined in modelling studies, which suggest Omicron cases will peak in early-mid January. However, the magnitude of the peak appears to be significantly lower than some of the worst case scenarios predicted.
For instance, according to modelling data published by the University of Warwick on 30 December, hospital admissions should by now be approaching about 5,000 a day in England. Yet, according to the latest figures, the number of Covid-19 patients admitted on 1 January was 1,819, down from 2,370 three days earlier.
Read the full story here:
Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, and his wife, Isaura, have tested positive for Covid-19 and are isolating, the president’s office said on Monday.
Nyusi and his wife took rapid tests and were asymptomatic but immediately decided to isolate while awaiting their PCR results, the presidency statement said.
In total, the country has recorded over 2,000 Covid-19 related deaths and 192,000 infections during the pandemic.
Impoverished Mozambique is grappling with a debt crisis and an Islamist insurgency as well as the virus.
Updated
Turkey recorded 44,869 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure since late April, health ministry data showed on Monday.
It also recorded 160 deaths due to Covid-19 in the same period, Reuters reports.
Cases in Turkey have more than doubled in just over a week as the Omicron variant became dominant in the country.
France reported on Monday 67,641 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, a figure much lower than a couple of days ago, when daily additional infections were over 200,000.
But reported cases always tend to dip on Monday and the 67,641 is a record for that day, and the tally is more than twice as high as one week ago, Reuters reports.
The seven-day moving average of new cases in France, which smoothes out daily reporting irregularities, reached a new all-time high of 167,338, jumping almost fivefold in a month.
Some 45 cruise ship passengers disembarked in the Italian port of Genoa on Monday after contracting coronavirus, while others who tested positive remained aboard to be let off later, the operator said.
Media reports had suggested anywhere between 120 and 150 people were infected onboard MSC Grandiosa, which arrived in Genoa on Monday morning from the French port of Marseille.
MSC denied “incorrect” media reports, but would not say how many cases had been picked up during routine testing.
“Today we are disembarking 45 positive cases in Genoa,” it said in a statement.
A spokesman later told AFP that an unspecified number of other passengers who tested positive were still onboard and would be let off at future stops.
The company said most were asymptomatic and they and their close contacts were immediately isolated in cabins with balconies and provided with medical attention.
Port authorities in Genoa confirmed to AFP news agency an unspecified number of passengers had been disembarked, with Italians from the north of the country to be taken to their homes and foreigners transferred to care facilities while they isolate.
They said the cruise ship would continue its journey to the Italian port of Civitavecchia, where positive patients living in central or southern Italy would be disembarked and taken home to isolate.
All transfers and stays in Covid facilities were being paid for by MSC Cruises, the authorities said.
The cruise industry worldwide is struggling to get back on its feet after voyages were halted at the start of the pandemic and several vessels were hit by outbreaks.
Updated
One of the UK’s biggest care home operators is calling on the government to lift visiting restrictions after it recorded one Covid death in the last fortnight.
Four Seasons Healthcare, which operates 165 care homes, said close to 4,000 residents were living under strict lockdowns because of outbreaks, but the Omicron variant was proving so mild in a well-vaccinated population that limits on seeing family and friends were in “total imbalance” with the risk.
Of 132 deaths among the chain’s residents in the last two weeks, just one was attributed to Covid, but because two or more staff or residents have tested positive in 86 homes, indoor visits are now largely banned. That is in step with government guidelines imposed before Christmas amid uncertainty about the danger of the latest coronavirus variant.
Jeremy Richardson, the chief executive of the UK’s third largest care home provider, said:
We are depriving people of their right to visitors, which is an absolute outrage.
The government restrictions at the moment are making it very difficult to give people a quality of life.
He added:
We run care homes. We do not run prisons.
Read the full story here:
Updated
A total of 51,800,798 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by 2 January, government figures show.
This is a rise of 12,121 on the previous day but does not include data for Wales, PA reports.
Some 47,451,922 second doses have been delivered, an increase of 15,893, in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
A combined total of 34,205,472 booster and third doses have also been given, a day-on-day rise of 106,665, also just in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Separate totals for booster and third doses are not available.
Updated
UK reports 157,758 new Covid cases amid 50% weekly rise
The UK reported 157,758 new Covid cases today and 42 additional deaths.
Cases rose by 50% between 28 December and 3 January compared with the week before. Deaths rose 17% during the same period compared with the previous seven days.
On Wednesday there were 11,918 patients in hospital with Covid - 868 of whom were on beds with a mechanical ventilator.
Updated
Schools in the Netherlands are set to reopen next week after an extended Christmas holiday due to Covid - despite rising infections.
Last month, in response to Omicron, the government brought in some of the toughest restrictions in Europe - including closing schools for three weeks and shutting non-essential shops and cultural and entertainment venues until 14 January.
But today the Dutch education ministry said schools would reopen as planned, reports AFP.
Primary and high schools will reopen on 10 January, while higher education institutions will be restricted to online learning.
From next week, teenagers aged 17 and under will be permitted to play sports outside until 8pm.
The Dutch National Institute of Public Health said today that positive coronavirus cases were rising as 14,623 new people tested positive and the average rate of infection rose for a sixth consecutive day.
Ontario announces new Covid restrictions as officials warn of 'tsunami' of new cases
Canada’s most populous province has announced new restrictions - including closing down schools and shops operating at 50% capacity - as officials warned of a “tsunami” of new Covid cases.
Pupils in Ontario will move to online learning as all schools were ordered to shut down, while shops and indoor shopping malls were ordered to restrict operations to 50% capacity, reports Reuters, following record infections driven by Omicron. Outdoor services will be limited to a number where people can maintain 2 metres of physical distance.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, warned that Omicron “spreads like wildfire”.
The reopening of schools has been delayed until at least 17 January. Hospitals have been instructed to pause all non-urgent surgeries and procedures to preserve critical care.
Updated
Scottish parliament to again be recalled as Covid hits record levels
Nicola Sturgeon is to give a fresh update on her government’s Covid strategy on Wednesday as she faces growing pressure to cut Scotland’s self-isolation rules.
With Covid cases now hitting record levels, the Scottish parliament will meet in virtual session on Wednesday afternoon after being recalled for the second time during the Christmas recess. Scotland reported 20,217 new cases and a 35% positive results rate on Monday, fuelled by a surge in Omicron cases.
CONFIRMED: Parliament will sit at 2pm on Wednesday 5 January.
— Alison Johnstone (@POScotParl) January 3, 2022
The meeting – for an update and questions on COVID – will be entirely virtual.
Hospitalisations have nearly doubled in the past week, from 528 cases on Boxing Day to 1,031 on Monday. The numbers of people in intensive care, a marker for potential deaths, has remained broadly level since declining sharply in early December. No new deaths were reported on Monday, potentially due to the holiday weekend.
Opposition parties and business leaders have been urging Sturgeon to cut Scotland’s self-isolation rules, which remain the toughest in the UK, to relieve staffing pressures on the NHS, businesses and essential services such as the rail network.
Scots are expected to isolate for 10 days after contact with a positive case, even after a negative test. In England and Wales, the limit is now seven days provided people have negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven. Sturgeon told MSPs last week she feared relaxing restrictions too soon could provoke a steeper rise in Covid infections.
There is also pressure on Sturgeon and the health secretary, Humza Yousaf, to provide evidence about the proportion of people in hospital with Covid who were admitted because they were ill with the virus, rather than another medical reason.
Some English studies suggest around half of those with Covid in hospital did not know they had it, and were admitted for other reasons. Yousaf said that data was being assessed. It also remains unclear whether anyone has yet died from Omicron in Scotland; Yousaf claimed last week that disclosing that data could breach patient confidentiality.
Updated
The UK’s daily Covid figures have been delayed today and are expected at around 5.30pm.
A message on the government’s coronavirus dashboard read: “Because of a delay in receiving deaths data for England, today’s update is delayed. The current estimate for release is 5.30pm.”
Italy reports 68,052 new Covid cases
Italy reported 68,052 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, up from 61,046 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths rose to 140, up from 133.
Italy has registered 137,786 deaths linked to the virus since the first outbreak emerged in February 2020, and has reported 6.4m cases to date, Reuters reports.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – was 12,333 on Monday, up from 11,756 a day earlier.
There were 103 new admissions to intensive care units, one fewer than on Sunday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,351 from a previous 1,319. About 445,321 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the last day, compared with a previous 278,654, the health ministry said.
Updated
Covid-related staff shortages across England are causing “terrible” rubbish collection delays, local politicians have warned, with bins in some areas left “overflowing” with waste from the festive period.
Councillors in London, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Buckinghamshire have said bin collection services have been scaled back as workers continue to fall sick with the virus, PA Media reports. Chelmsford city council confirmed 23 members of staff were absent and cancelled three days’ worth of food waste collections. North Somerset council said it had been unable to pick up 1,000 recycling bins on New Year’s Eve as crews remain “stretched due to staff sickness”.
Updated
Multiple NHS trusts have declared “critical incidents” amid soaring staff absences caused by Covid, as health leaders warned pressure was increasingly spreading to hospitals outside London.
More than half a dozen trusts in England have issued alerts over “internal critical incidents” in the last few days, it is understood, amid mounting concerns some may be unable to deliver vital care to patients.
Health leaders said the “rapidly increasing” number of absent NHS staff was piling “very serious” pressure on hospitals already struggling to cope with increasing Covid admissions and wider pressure on urgent and emergency services. Hospitals in the north-east and Yorkshire have reported the most rapid growth in Covid patients in recent days.
However, NHS chiefs also expressed cautious optimism that after weeks of rising hospitalisations in London – the centre of the Omicron outbreak – that the increases may have peaked and be starting to plateau.
Updated
Parts of NHS in England in 'crisis' due to Covid and staff shortages, warns UK healthcare leader
Parts of the health service are in “crisis”, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation has said.
Matthew Taylor said:
In many parts of the health service, we are currently in a state of crisis. In the face of high levels of demand and staff absence some hospitals are having to declare a ‘critical incident’.
Some hospitals are making urgent calls to exhausted staff to give up rest days and leave to enable them to sustain core services. Many more hospitals are having to ban visitors to try to reduce the spread of infection. NHS England is continuing to plan for surge capacity.
Community and social care services, which were already massively overstretched, are at breaking point. In many areas, ambulance services are unable to meet their target response times. Primary care is having to add caring for Covid-19 patients and trying to keep them out of hospitals to driving the booster programme and dealing with unprecedented underlying demand which is driven in part by the millions of unwell people waiting for appointments and operations.
On Saturday, the United Lincolnshire hospitals NHS trust declared an internal critical incident “due to extreme and unprecedented workforce shortages”, meaning the trust was “unable to maintain safe staffing levels”, the Sunday Times reported.
Updated
Kuwait has urged its citizens to leave several European countries including the UK, France and Germany because of rising cases of the Omicron variant in the region.
AFP reports:
In a series of statements overnight Sunday, the oil-rich Gulf state also warned Kuwaitis, often big spenders abroad, to avoid travelling to the countries.
The foreign ministry said they should “delay their trips” generally and, in particular, to France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.
It said its citizens should leave those countries “considering the significant and unprecedented rise in the number of new cases” of Covid-19.
Europe has in the past few months again become the centre of the pandemic and is battling an upsurge of cases spurred on by the highly transmissible Omicron strain.
The countries with the highest ratio of infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the world were all in Europe, according to an AFP tally on Saturday.
The count showed more than 4.9m infections reported in Europe over the seven days to 1 January.
France alone recorded more than 1 million new cases during that one-week period.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry also said on Monday that the country’s citizens should leave Morocco due to concerns over Covid-19.
The number of recorded cases in Kuwait remains relatively low.
But it jumped 20-fold in a month to reach around 600 cases on Sunday in the country of more than 4 million people.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, cases have also surged.
In the United Arab Emirates, infections have risen almost 40-fold since the beginning of December.
Saudi Arabia announced 1,746 new cases on Monday, the most in six months and a leap of more than 700 from just a day earlier.
Updated
US authorises third Pfizer dose for 12- to 15-year-olds
The US food and drug administration (FDA) has authorised the use of a third dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for children aged 12 to 15.
It also shortened the time for all booster shots to five months from six months after primary doses, reports Reuters, and authorised a third dose for 5- to 11-year-olds who are immunocompromised.
The FDA said it reviewed published data and evidence on the safety of booster doses provided by the Israeli Ministry of Health, including from over 6,300 12- to 15-year-olds who received a Pfizer vaccine.
Updated
Passengers who were stranded on a cruise ship in Portugal for five days after a coronavirus outbreak started disembarking today.
The AIDAnova was carrying 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew members when it docked in Lisbon on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
The ship had been on its way to Madeira for New Year’s Eve celebrations, but was cut short after coronavirus was detected among the crew. Between Wednesday and Friday, 52 crew members had tested positive.
By Monday, there were 68 cases, including among some passengers.
Passengers who tested negative in the last 48 hours started to disembarl before dawn and were transported by bus to the airport.
“We’re living in this situation and it can always happen. Of course it’s not nice, we imagined something else,” one passenger told Reuters.
Another added: “We all want this to end. We’re going home.”
The ship’s operator, AIDA Cruises, said all those infected had mild symptoms or none at all and that all crew and guests over 12 had been fully vaccinated and showed a negative rapid antigen test before departure.
It also said it adhered to “comprehensive health and safety protocols” on all its cruises.
The US centers for disease control and prevention on Thursday advised people to avoid travelling on cruise ships, whatever their vaccination status.
Scotland hits new pandemic high with 20,217 new daily cases
Scotland has reported another record number of Covid cases, with 20,217 cases reported on Monday, and with more than 1,000 people in hospital with Covid – the highest number since early October last year.
The latest NHS Scotland data found that nearly 35% of Covid tests were positive over the past 24 hours – the highest proportion in recent months. The previous record daily figure was 17,065, reported on 1 January.
Monday’s record figure is likely to include cases that emerged over the New Year’s holiday weekend: 14,080 cases were reported on Sunday, the day after a previous record high. Scotland has now recorded 105,390 positive cases over the last seven days.
There were no further deaths reported – another possible effect of the holiday weekend preventing death registrations. While hospitalisations reached 1,031 – an increase of more than 150 since Friday, the numbers in intensive care has remained relatively stable, with 52 people with Covid in ITU, compared with 51 on 31 December.
Updated
India vaccinated over 3.8 million 15- to 18-year-olds today as the country expanded its vaccination drive (see also 05:38).
The teenagers, many wearing school uniforms, queued at schools and health centres across the country to be vaccinated with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, reports Reuters.
Kishan Bhuyan, 17, queued with friends in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar after registering online.
“I was waiting for this [vaccination] for so long,” the high school student told the news agency. “I am now protected.”
Hi, it’s Miranda Bryant here covering for Jedidajah for the next hour or so.
Updated
The Omicron variant is better at circumventing vaccinated people’s immunity than the Delta variant, but is very likely to be milder, according to a Danish study published last week, with one of the experts involved in the study saying intensive care hospitalisations were low enough to provide hope that this could be the pandemic’s last wave of infections.
Reuters reports:
A virus can be more transmissible due to a number of reasons, such as the time it lingers in the air, its ability to latch on to cells, or its evasion of the body’s immune system.
Investigating nearly 12,000 Danish households in mid-December, the scientists found that Omicron was 2.7 to 3.7 times more infectious than the Delta variant among vaccinated Danes.
The study, conducted by researchers at University of Copenhagen, Statistics Denmark and Statens Serum Institut (SSI), suggests the virus is mainly spreading more rapidly because it is better at evading immunity obtained from vaccines.
“Our findings confirm that the rapid spread of the Omicron [variant] primarily can be ascribed to the immune evasiveness rather than an inherent increase in the basic transmissibility,” the researchers said. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed.
Seventy-eight percent of Danes have been fully vaccinated, while nearly 48% of those have received a third “boosted” shot. More than eight out of 10 Danes have received Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine.
The study also found that booster-vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus, regardless of the variant, than the unvaccinated.
While more transmissible, the Omicron variant does seem to induce less serious disease, SSI’s technical director, Tyra Grove Krause, told local media on Monday.
“While Omicron will still be able to put pressure on our healthcare system, everything indicates that it is milder than the Delta variant,” she said, adding the risk of being hospitalised with Omicron was half of that with Delta.
That echoes the results of some other studies into Omicron.Out of a total of 93 people admitted to hospital due to Covid-19 from Omicron in late December, less than five were receiving intensive care, Danish data showed.
“This may be what is going to lift us out of the pandemic, so that this becomes the last wave of corona,” Krause said.
Updated
Boris Johnson warns of pressure on NHS for weeks as Omicron 'continues to surge' in UK
Pressure on the NHS for the “next couple of weeks and maybe more” is going to be “considerable”, UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said.
Speaking on a visit to a vaccination hub in the Guttman Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Johnson said the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is “plainly milder” than other strains.
However, he added “there’s no question Omicron continues to surge through the country”.
He said:
I think we’ve got to recognise that the pressure on our NHS, on our hospitals, is going to be considerable in the course the next couple of weeks, and maybe more.
Johnson said the booster programme and plan B measures made a difference, but he said:
There are still quite a lot of people who have had two jabs, but haven’t had the third. The third job really does make a big, big difference.
It would be “absolute folly” to think the coronavirus pandemic was “all over”, the PM added.
I would say to everybody looking at the pressures on the NHS in the next couple of weeks, and maybe longer, looking at the numbers of people who are going to be going into hospital, it will be absolute folly to say that this thing is all over now bar the shouting.
We’ve got to remain cautious. We got to stick with plan B. We’ve got to get boosted.
Johnson pledged to “make sure that we look after our NHS any way that we can”, and said he had spoken to NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, and its medical director, Prof Stephen Powis, about the pressures faced by healthcare staff.
He told broadcasters:
I appreciate the pressures that our hospitals are under, I think it’s vital that we make sure that we help them by trying to contain the pandemic in the ways that I’ve set out.
So do all the things that I’ve said, make sure we follow a plan B, get boosted but also help the NHS with their staffing requirements, and we’re looking at what we can do to move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected.
Don’t forget that... no matter how incredibly transmissible Omicron is - and there’s no question it really spreads very, very fast - it is different from previous variants.
And it does seem pretty conclusively to be less severe than Delta or Alpha, and it is putting fewer people into ICU, and sadly the people who are getting into ICU are the people who aren’t boosted, so get boosted.
Updated
Here is a video of the UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, telling people struggling to get lateral flow tests for Covid to “just refresh” their webpage, as concerns mount over the impact of the Omicron variant on the country’s workforce.
Zahawi also repeated the government line that “there’s nothing in the data” to suggest further coronavirus measures will be needed later this week in England.
Updated
Headteachers in England warn staff shortages due to teachers isolating will be 'challenging'
Headteachers in England have warned that staff shortages in the new term caused by teachers isolating after testing positive for Covid will be “challenging” for some schools and could lead to more pupils learning online.
Caroline Derbyshire, executive head at Saffron Walden County high school in Essex, and leader of Saffron academy trust, told PA Media:
We know that (staff shortages) will be a factor and there will be schools in particular parts of the country where rates have been extremely high where staffing will be difficult.
But this sort of mass of supply teachers that are supposed to be there – that’s not happened, has it, so if we have got shortages it’ll be colleagues who are in school who’ll be doing most of the covering.
She said the idea of merging classes, as suggested by the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, in the event of shortages, had already been carried out by schools “all term last term”, but it was “not a long-term solution”.
She said staff shortages would “absolutely” make remote learning more likely, adding:
If you hit a certain point with staff absences in a big school you’re talking about maybe 10 members of staff being off.
You’ve suddenly got the inability to run a year group – that’s when you start having either year groups or whole parts of schools having to go online, so that’s when you’re going to have that mixed economy of some students being in school and some at home.
She said this would be “a feature of this half term that we will have to manage, I don’t think anyone’s looking forward to it at all”.
Zahawi announced new Covid guidance for schools on the weekend, including the advice for secondary schools that all pupils should wear masks in classrooms. All secondaries were further asked to provide on-site testing for students ahead of their return to the classroom.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told PA that school bosses had responded to the reintroduction of face coverings for an initial two-week period with a “kind of weary, pragmatic acceptance that if that’s what we need to do to try to reduce transmission then that’s what we shall do”.
He added:
I think most people will hope that that’s a price worth paying to keep more young people in school, but ultimately that will come down to whether we’ve got enough staff when term starts tomorrow.
Barton said staff would have taken lateral flow tests over the weekend so there would be some waiting for PCR confirmation who would not be able to deliver face-to-face teaching.
Six trade unions representing the majority of education staff issued a joint statement on Monday calling for more government support for the sector.
The statement from ASCL, GMB, NAHT, NASUWT, NEU and Unison said:
There has been much speculation about the possibility of more disruption to education over the next academic term as a result of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
As trade unions representing the vast majority of education staff, we wish to emphasise that teachers, leaders and support staff desperately want to be able to conduct face-to-face teaching for all children and young people on a consistent basis and without further interruption caused by the pandemic.
Education staff have moved heaven and earth to support pupils and students throughout the course of the crisis and they remain committed to providing the best possible support for all children and young people.
[...]
But last term education staff were more likely than other workers to test positive and therefore to have to self-isolate, inevitably leading to disruption of education.
Schools and colleges cannot on their own reduce the threat posed by the virus and they need from the Westminster government more than rhetoric about the importance of education.
We need the minimum amount of educational disruption this term in order to avoid a third successive year where GCSEs, A-levels and other exams have to be cancelled, and thereby removing the uncertainty and additional workload for students and teachers.
It is essential therefore that the government takes immediate and urgent steps to mitigate the risk of Covid transmission and that it provides more support to minimise disruption in schools and colleges [...].
Such steps, the statement continues, include the provision of government-funded air cleaning units to every school and college classroom that needs these devices, more resources for schools to facilitate on-site Covid testing, and improved financial support for the costs of supply staff to cover for Covid-related absence.
Updated
France can make a decision in February or March on whether to recommend a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines once more scientific data has been gathered, the head of the French vaccination programme, Alain Fischer, said on Monday on BFM TV.
On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, announced that the country will offer a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff, as a wave of infections with the Omicron variant is creating fresh concern.
Modellers have warned that up to 4 million people in Israel could be infected by the end of January, a surge that could see the country reach Covid herd immunity.
Israel’s top health adviser, Nachman Ash, said the country would pay a price if infections climbed this high, adding he would prefer to see herd immunity achieved via vaccinations instead.
The Pfizer chief executive, Albert Bourla, said in early December that people might need a fourth Covid shot sooner than expected after preliminary research showed the new Omicron variant can undermine protective antibodies generated by the vaccine the company developed with BioNTech.
“When we see real-world data, we will determine if the Omicron is well covered by the third dose and for how long. And the second point, I think we will need a fourth dose,” Bourla told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Bourla previously projected that a fourth vaccine would be needed 12 months after the third jab. “With Omicron we need to wait and see because we have very little information. We may need it faster,” he said.
Updated
Ryanair will cancel 28 of its 59 Danish routes in January, according to Danish aviation website Check In.
The budget airline had already cancelled one third of its January flights due to restrictions.
The cancellations will last for three weeks from 10 January, The Local reports.
Denmark, which is among the countries with the most registered cases of the Omicron variant, recorded an all-time high in new infections last week amid increased demand for Covid testing during the Christmas holidays.
Many airlines have reduced their flight schedule this winter due to staff absences, travel restrictions and a lack of consumer confidence.
In early December, British Airways cancelled more than 2,000 flights from its schedule until March 2022.
Updated
Belgium will buy 10,000 courses each of the Covid-19 antiviral oral treatments developed by Pfizer and Merck & Co, a spokesman for the health ministry said in an emailed statement.
Belgium’s health minister said in early December that the government was in talks with Merck for the purchase of molnupiravir, and Belgian health authorities had advised that both molnupiravir and Paxlovid, the drug developed by Pfizer, should be purchased.
“Both talks are finalised and we will buy 10,000 of both,” Arne Brinckman, a spokesman for the Belgian health ministry told Reuters on Monday.
Israel will allow foreigners with presumed Covid-19 immunity to enter from medium-risk countries from 9 January, the health ministry said on Monday, in a reversal of a ban on entry by foreigners imposed in late November in response to the Omicron variant.
People seeking to travel from countries on Israel’s “orange” list would have to prove in advance that they are either vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 and would be subject to PCR testing before and after their arrival, Reuters reports.
Italy’s manufacturing sector grew strongly in December, although at a slightly slower rate than in November, as the economy continued to bounce back despite rising Covid-19 infections, a survey showed on Monday.
Reuters reports:
The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Italian manufacturing came in at 62.0 in December against a record 62.8 registered in November.
December’s reading, which was the 18th consecutive month above the 50 threshold that separates growth from contraction, beat the median forecast of 61.6 in a Reuters survey of 10 analysts.
The new orders sub-index remained buoyant at 63.0 – the fourth-highest reading on record and only slightly down on the 63.7 registered in November.
The economic outlook has been clouded recently by an increase in Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant, with Italy posting record numbers of new cases as it headed into the holiday season.
Prime minister Mario Draghi says the Italian economy likely expanded in 2021 by more than the government’s official 6.0% forecast and is predicting growth of 4.7% in 2022.
That follows the record 8.9% contraction registered in 2020, when the economy was crippled by coronavirus lockdowns.
Updated
The train operator ScotRail has cut scores of services and introduced a reduced timetable until 28 January, in order to cope with significant staff shortages caused by Covid.
The company said hundreds of employees were off work ill or self-isolating, so it had reorganised its timetable, particularly for services around the central belt from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Nine routes operating from Glasgow Central and Queen Street, including trains to Lanark, East Kilbride and Stranraer, and three from Edinburgh Waverley, including to Dunbar and Tweedbank, have been affected. The country’s busiest service, from Waverley to Queen Street via Falkirk High, has not been amended.
David Simpson, ScotRail’s operations director, said:
Like most businesses, ScotRail is not immune to the impact of coronavirus. We’ve been working flat out to run a safe and reliable railway in really difficult and rapidly changing circumstances.
[We] have looked to spread these changes out across the day where possible to minimise the impact on our customers, but people should plan ahead and continue to check the train times right up until they arrive at the station.
Updated
'Nothing in the data' to suggest more restrictions needed in England
UK education secretary Nadhim Zahawi added “there’s nothing in the data” to suggest further coronavirus measures will be needed in England later this week.
He told BBC Breakfast that the current plan B measures would be reviewed on Wednesday, but added:
There’s nothing in the data that gives me any concern that we need to go beyond where we are at.
There’s some really good data from London that it looks like the infection rates are plateauing, if not yet coming down. But we are seeing leakage into the over-50s in terms of infections, and it’s generally the over-50s who end up with severe infection and hospitalisation.
The NHS, Zahawi suggested, should be able to cope with high staff absences as it is used to dealing with staff being off during “big flu viruses”.
He added:
The NHS is very good at being able to move staff around within the system. They have an infrastructure to do that. We now have 10,000 more nurses and 3,000 more doctors than we had last year working in the NHS.
Updated
English secondary pupils to be tested for Covid before term starts
English secondary pupils are to be tested for Covid at least once before returning to school, the British government has said.
In a statement announcing the measures, health secretary Sajid Javid said “regular testing is a key way to support schools and protect face-to-face teaching”.
Ministers have assured schools that testing kits will be provided as needed and urged pupils to test twice weekly, the BBC reports.
The new on-site testing rules will be limited to England, where pupils will begin returning to schools for the new term later this week.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, students are already being asked to test twice a week.
The Welsh government has asked staff and students to test three times per week before returning to classrooms this term.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said people struggling to get lateral flow tests “should just refresh” their webpage, amid a national shortage of Covid test kits.
He told Sky News he had organised a separate supply of tests for schools ahead of children’s return to the classrooms.
Classes could be merged if the number of school staff off sick climbed too high, he added.
Zahawi said:
The priority is to keep schools open. The testing, the staffing support we’re putting in place, and of course the ventilation is going to make a big difference to schools this year.
The most important thing is to keep them open.
We monitor staff absenteeism, I just said to you we’re running at about 8% last year. If that rises further then we look at things like merging classes, teaching in bigger numbers.
Zahawi added that “all exams are going ahead this year, this summer.”
Updated
Poland considering new restrictions
Poland may introduce new Covid restrictions if new infections continue to rise, health minister Adam Niedzielski told radio station RMF FM on Monday morning.
Poland has been dealing with persistently high daily case numbers in a fourth wave that forced authorities to tighten restrictions in December.
Niedzielski said:
If we see this week that we have a continuation of the upward trend in infections, with roughly 20,000 hospital beds taken, which is still very high, yes, we will be making further aggravating decisions.
We will talk about schools, the closure of shopping malls, for example, but I do not want to prejudge.
Niedzielski said any decisions could be announced later this week, either on Wednesday or Friday.
Poland reported another 7,179 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths in the last reporting period, according to an update from the ministry of health.
However, Niedzielski told RMF FM that 6,422 new coronavirus infections were detected.
Updated
While speaking on France Inter public radio, minister of health Olivier Véran said he was also discussing the possibility of an additional Covid booster jab in light of Israel pushing forward with a fourth dose.
“We are discussing it with scientists,” Véran said, adding that January was going to be a particularly tough month for increasingly strained hospitals and healthcare providers.
France’s minister of health, Olivier Véran, has addressed the new Covid curbs in an appearance on France Inter public radio this morning.
Addressing critics he said:
“It is never contradictory to protect the health of our society and the health of the French. One does not go without the other. The isolation rules which come into force respect this balance.”
Delta menace nos réanimations par ses formes graves.
— Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 3, 2022
Omicron menace nos lits de médecine par ses formes symptomatiques nombreuses.
Dans les deux cas, le vaccin avec rappel protège. Le télétravail, la limitation des grands rassemblements et le pass vaccinal freinent. pic.twitter.com/OGpYe1AgLI
Updated
Summary of key developments
- In England, masks return for secondary pupils in classrooms amid fears that the new term could trigger a huge spike in cases of the Omicron variant.
- In France, a raft of new Covid restrictions is set to take effect on Monday in the latest attempt to stem rising infections. On the other hand, fully vaccinated people who test positive will now have to isolate for only seven days, and can leave quarantine after five days if they show a negative test.
-
India begins its vaccination drive for children aged 15 to 18.
-
South Korea reported two deaths in connection with the Omicron variant.
- Québec, Canada, proceeded with the first of three planned closures of non-essential retail stores on Sunday. The province is also under a recently imposed curfew.
- US federal health officials are looking to add a negative test along with its five-day isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans with Covid.
- The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, said the US had been seeing almost a “vertical increase” of new Covid cases, now averaging 400,000 cases a day, with hospitalisations also up.
- US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he tested positive for Covid and was experiencing mild symptoms while quarantining at home.
- Local authorities in China’s locked-down city of Xi’an removed two senior officials on Sunday in a bid to “strengthen” their fight against Covid.
- Australia plans to push ahead with reopening the economy as new infections hit a daily record of more than 37,000 and the number of people hospitalised rose.
- Israel will offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff.
- More than 4,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday due to adverse weather and a surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Updated
Here’s an unexpected outcome to emerge from lockdown.
Popular lockdown pursuits such as cooking, DIY and buying pets led to thousands of people needing hospital care for injuries, figures suggest.
Analysis of hospital admissions in England by the PA Media news agency showed that thousands were treated for injuries sustained as a result of activities that surged in popularity as people were confined to their homes.
The data from NHS Digital for 2020-21 showed that more than 5,600 people attended hospital after coming into contact with a powered hand-tool, and more than 2,700 were admitted after an accident with a non-powered hand-tool such as a hammer or a saw.
Figures also showed that 349 people were admitted after injuring themselves with lawnmowers. More than 5,300 people were admitted after falling from playground equipment, with the average age of patients being nine and a half years.
Read the full story from Guardian reporter Jessica Murray here.
Updated
Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you on the blog today as we go through all the latest Covid developments.
As students prepare to begin the new school term across the UK, masks will return for secondary pupils in England’s classrooms amid fears that the new term could trigger a huge spike in cases of the Omicron variant. The measure is already in place in other countries of the UK.
Robert Halfon, the chair of the House of Commons education select committee, raised concerns saying there is limited evidence of the efficacy of masks in educational settings. However, others have backed the measure, pointing out that while masks are not perfect, and their effectiveness depends on their quality, a number of studies have suggested mask-wearing in schools is linked to smaller increases in case rates and a lower likelihood of outbreaks.
Meanwhile in neighbouring France, a raft of new Covid restrictions is set to take affect today in the latest attempt to stem rising infections.
Big events will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors and people will be requested to sit down during concerts. Customers will also not be allowed to stand up in bars. Working from home will be mandatory for at least three days per week where possible.
The new rules will be in place for at least three weeks, prime minister Jean Castex indicated last week.
France will implement new Covid restrictions today in the latest attempt to stem rising infections.
Big events will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors and people will be requested to sit down during concerts from today. Customers will also not be allowed to stand up in bars.
Eating and drinking will be banned in cinemas, theatres, sport facilities and public transportation, including on long-distance routes. Working from home will be mandatory at least three days per week for employees whose job makes it possible.
The new rules will be in place for at least three weeks, prime minister Jean Castex said last week.
Schools will also reopen as scheduled on Monday 3 January.
Updated
As India begins vaccinating what Unicef believes to be the largest population of adolescents in the world (253 million), here are the latest Covid numbers.
The nation recorded another 33,750 new coronavirus cases over the last 24-hour reporting period, its highest daily case load since 18 September.
The country also reported another 123 deaths, according to a recently released statement from the ministry of health.
#COVID19 UPDATE:
— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 3, 2022
🔷145.68 cr vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
🔷India's Active caseload currently stands at 1,45,582
🔷Recovery Rate currently at 98.20%
Read here: https://t.co/7qoKykVqyH#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/DnZfesfFvS
Updated
India’s health minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, has urged young people to get the Covid-19 vaccine as the nation begins its latest inoculation drive.
Mandaviya shared a series of photos over Twitter on Monday alongside the caption: “Some glimpses of the #COVID19 Vaccination drive for children in the 15-18 age group.”
He added: “I urge my young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest and further strengthen the world’s largest vaccination drive.”
Securing our Young India 👦🏻 👧🏻
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) January 3, 2022
Some glimpses of the #COVID19 Vaccination drive for children in the 15-18 age group 💉
I urge my young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest & further strengthen the world's largest vaccination drive.#SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine pic.twitter.com/jyBKWwcTkV
Updated
India begins vaccinating 15-18-year-olds
India begins its vaccination drive for children aged 15 to 18 today.
The health ministry announced that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin would be the vaccine administered in two doses 28 days apart.
Health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted: “The world’s largest vaccination campaign has started for children in the age group of 15 to 18 across the country from today.”
He added: “If the children are safe, then the future of the country is safe.”
PM @NarendraModi जी के नेतृत्व में विश्व के सबसे बड़े टीकाकरण के अंर्तगत आज से देश भर में 15 से 18 आयुवर्ग के बच्चों के लिए टीकाकरण अभियान की शुरुआत हो गयी है।
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) January 3, 2022
हमारे यंग इंडिया को कोरोना का सुरक्षा कवच देने हेतु मैं मोदी जी का धन्यवाद करता हूं। #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine pic.twitter.com/UcMaeW6VAZ
Private and public schools will double up as vaccination centres for children and school authorities have been ordered to report their daily vaccination data to state authorities.
“Children are going to be given vaccines in their schools,” said Jai Prakash Shivahare, health commissioner in Gujarat state. “They can also go to vaccination centres and get the dose ... They can just walk in.”
Updated
South Korea reports first Omicron deaths
South Korea has reported two deaths in connection with the Omicron variant, Yonhap News reports.
The deaths are believed to be the first in the country linked to the highly transmissible variant, officials said on Monday.
Health authorities in Gwangju, 329km south of Seoul, said two recently deceased coronavirus patients in the city, both in their 90s, tested positive for the Omicron variant, according to the publication.
The patients, who died last Monday and Wednesday respectively, both tested positive for Covid-19 at a senior care hospital in the city at an earlier date.
Updated
Some updated Covid figures from South Korea have just been released.
The nation has recorded another 3,129 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 36 deaths over the past 24-hour reporting period.
A total of 1,015 people are currently in critical condition, with the country averaging 347 new admissions a day.
Updated
Québec, Canada proceeded with the first of three planned closures of non-essential retail stores on Sunday as the provincial government attempts to curb a new Covid wave and strain on hospitals.
Québec premier Francois Legault announced last week that the majority of the province’s stores would be closed for the next three Sundays, with the exception of pharmacies, convenience stores and petrol stations.
Charles Milliard, president of the Québec Federation of Chambers of Commerce, urged the government to lift the measures as soon as possible.
He said in a statement:
The last thing businesses need during these difficult times is additional restrictions. We must leave the choice to businesses to open or close at the time that makes the most sense for them, their employees and their customers.
The closures came as Québec reported 15,845 new Covid-19 cases, as well as 13 additional deaths linked to the virus. The jealth department said the number of Covid-related hospitalisations rose by 70 to 1,231, with 162 people in intensive care.
Québec City’s main hospital network says it will postpone half of its surgeries and medical appointments starting on Wednesday due to the spike in Covid patients.
The province is also under a recently imposed curfew where residents are unable to roam the streets, dine in restaurants or participate in indoor sports or gatherings in homes after 10pm, according to a government notice.
The 10pm to 5am curfew was imposed from 31 December 2021.
Updated
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 on Sunday.
Dr Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 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. 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.
Updated
Fauci says US is seeing 'vertical increase' in cases
The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, said the US had 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.
He said:
We are definitely in the middle of a very severe surge and uptick in cases. The acceleration of cases that we’ve seen is unprecedented, gone well beyond anything we’ve seen before.
Fauci said he was concerned the omicron variant was 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.
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.
Updated
China removes two senior officials over Covid response
Local authorities in China’s locked-down city of Xi’an removed two senior officials on Sunday in a bid to “strengthen” their fight against Covid.
Authorities ordered all 13 million residents to stay home last month as Beijing continues to pursue a “zero Covid” approach.
Two senior Communist party officials from the Yanta district were removed from their posts, according to local media and as reported by Agence France-Presse, in a bid to “strengthen the work of epidemic prevention and control” in the area.
“We have entered a general state of attack,” said provincial official Liu Guozhong, according to an official notice. He added that it was necessary to achieve the goal of clearing society of coronavirus cases as soon as possible.
Last month, China’s disciplinary body announced that dozens of officials were punished for “insufficient rigour in preventing and controlling the outbreak”.
Local residents have said they were struggling to find enough food, despite Chinese authorities insisting they were working to ensure stable supplies.
Xi’an reported 90 new local virus cases on Monday, down from 122 cases a day before.
Updated
Australia to push ahead with reopening
Australia plans to push ahead with reopening the economy as new infections hit a daily record of more than 37,000 and the number of people hospitalised rose.
Record daily case numbers were reported on Monday in the states of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.
In New South Wales there were 20,794 cases, higher than Sunday’s figure but below the daily record of 22,577 set on Saturday, with testing numbers lower over the New Year’s holiday weekend.
However, the government insists that the milder impact of the Omicron variant will not deter plans to reopen.
Prime minister Scott Morrison told broadcaster Channel Seven:
We have to stop thinking about case numbers and think about serious illness, living with the virus, managing our own health and ensuring that we’re monitoring those symptoms and we keep our economy going.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt said the advice to the government was that the Omicron strain was more transmissible but also milder than other variants, which reduced the risk to both individuals and the health system.
Updated
Here’s a roundup of some Covid numbers across Asia.
Thailand has reported 2,927 new Covid cases and 18 deaths over the last 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday morning.
Singapore reported 429 new Covid cases on Sunday, including 297 imported infections. There were no deaths recorded, according to the ministry of health.
Malaysia reported 40,606 active coronavirus cases, a reduction of 428 from the previous day, and 19 deaths.
China reported another 161 coronavirus cases on Sunday, down from 191 a day earlier, the country’s health authority said on Monday.
Of the new infections, 101 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by China’s national health commission, down from 131 a day earlier.
Most of the new local cases were in the north-western province of Shanxi, where the capital city of Xian has been under a strict lockdown.
South Korea also reported another 3,833 new confirmed cases, including 150 imported cases. A further 69 deaths were also recorded.
Updated
Israel to offer fourth Covid jab for the over-60s and medical staff
Israel will offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff.
Prime minister Naftali Bennett made the announcement on Sunday amid a surge in Omicron variant infections, saying the country’s top medical officer had approved the shot.
In a statement, Bennett said:
Tonight, I can announce that Israel will also begin administering the fourth vaccine to all Israelis aged 60 and above, as well as our wonderful medical workers, four months after they’ve received their last dose — following the approval of Israel’s Ministry of Health.
Israel will once again be pioneering the global vaccination effort. Omicron is not Delta — it’s a different ball-game altogether. We must keep our eye on the ball, act swiftly and decisively if we want to continue engaging and working with an open country as much as possible throughout this pandemic.”
Israel on Thursday authorised a fourth Covid vaccine for those with weakened immunity, becoming one of the first countries to do so.
Authorities on Sunday also reported 4,206 new Covid infections over the past 24 hours, and a 195% increase over the past week.
Bennett warned that cases could surge to around “50,000 cases per day soon”, urging all adults and children to get vaccinated.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: Israel will begin administering the fourth vaccine to all Israelis aged 60+ as well as medical workers.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 2, 2022
Israel will once again be pioneering the global vaccination effort.
Full remarks >>https://t.co/41ytwmpMwA pic.twitter.com/345sKxhRwH
Updated
More on the news from earlier regarding US defense secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement he had tested positive for Covid.
In a statement on Sunday night, Austin said he was experiencing mild symptoms while quarantining at home and planned to attend key meetings and discussions virtually in the coming week “to the degree possible”.
He said deputy secretary Kathleen Hicks would represent him in appropriate matters.
Austin said:
I have informed my leadership team of my positive test result, as well as the president. My staff has begun contact tracing and testing of all those with whom I have come into contact over the last week.
Austin, 68, said he was fully vaccinated and received a booster in October. He said he requested a test on Sunday morning after experiencing symptoms while at home on leave and, given the result, planned to remain in quarantine for five days, per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccines work and will remain a military medical requirement for our workforce. I continue to encourage everyone eligible for a booster shot to get one. This remains a readiness issue.
Updated
More than 4,000 flights cancelled in 2022 over Omicron
More than 4,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday due to adverse weather and a surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
The flights cancelled by 8pm GMT on Sunday included over 2,400 entering, departing from or within the United States, according to tracking website FlightAware.com.
Globally, more than 11,200 flights were delayed.
Among the airlines with most cancellations were SkyWest and SouthWest, with 510 and 419 cancellations respectively, FlightAware showed.
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 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights as pilots and cabin crew quarantine.
US airline cabin crew, pilots and support staff were reluctant to work overtime during the holidays, despite offers of hefty financial incentives. Many feared contracting Covid and did not welcome the prospect of dealing with unruly passengers, some airline unions said.
Updated
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog to kick off the new year.
Omicron is continuing to unleash chaos around the world with more than 4,000 flights cancelled on Sunday, as the variant contributes to a surge in cases and quarantines flight crews. More than 11,200 flights were also delayed, according to tracking website FlightAware.com.
The cancellations disrupted the busy Christmas and New Year period, with thousands forced to abandon plans.
Israel is set to offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to people aged over 60 and to medical staff.
Prime minister Naftali Bennett 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 said.
Here is a summary of developments so far:
- 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 were 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 have to isolate for only 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 deaths rose by 284.
- Israel is to offer a fourth dose of the Covid 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 and 30 deaths.
- The US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, said the US had been seeing almost a “vertical increase” of new Covid cases, adding he was concerned the Omicron variant was causing “major disruption” on essential services.
- Dr Fauci said hospitalisation figures formed 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.
Updated
