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Updated
Summary
Here is a snapshot of the latest key developments:
- Covid cases in the UK reached record levels, with 78,610 new cases reported on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread.
- England’s chief medical officer warned people not to mix with others unless they have to in the run-up to Christmas after Britain recorded its most daily cases since the start of the pandemic.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said it was possible the Covid-19 vaccine would eventually be made compulsory in France, but said it was not the priority for now.
- A US appeals court revived the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in 26 states.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia due to a Covid-19 case among his travelling party.
- Moderna will start a trial of its Covid-19 vaccine across eight African countries to determine its efficacy in people who are HIV positive, Bloomberg News reported.
- Early data suggests Omicron is more transmissible than Delta, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
- Canadians advised against all non-essential international travel.
- The Omicron variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, a study found.
- Covid cases in the UK reached record levels, with 78,610 new cases reported on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread.
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Ukraine will extend Covid restrictions for another three months, to 31 March from the end of December, because of low levels of vaccination, the prime minister Denys Shmyhal said.
- Italy tightens restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU, requiring Covid tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated.
- The Crown Princess of Denmark tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday.
Zoo in Chile tests experimental Covid vaccine on lions and tigers
The Buin Zoo on the outskirts of the Chilean capital Santiago is administering a Covid-19 vaccine to tigers and lions.
The experimental formula was donated by global animal health company Zoetis Inc.
On Monday, lions, tigers, pumas and even an orangutan received the vaccine.
“We are using an experimental vaccine that will yield short-term results that will in turn allow us to develop a vaccine that is not on the market today,” zoo director Ignacio Idalsoaga told Reuters.
“These are the first doses being produced worldwide, which will enable scientific accuracy and later allow mass production to protect every animal from this deadly virus in zoos like ours.
“We are vaccinating three tigers, three lions, three pumas and our orangutan, because great apes are also susceptible to this,” he said.
Canadians advised against all non-essential international travel
The Canadian government on Wednesday advised Canadians against all non-essential international travel, and the largest province of Ontario capped capacity at large events like NBA and NHL games at 50% because of the new Omicron variant.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau said Canadians shouldn’t travel right now and anyone entering the country is going to face extra barriers like testing.
“It’s the last thing families want to be dealing with right now, but Covid in the presence of Omicron is back with a vengeance,” Trudeau said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said all adults in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, can book virus booster shots beginning Monday if three months have passed since their second vaccine dose. Canada trails the US, Britain and other countries in getting citizens booster shots.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as my colleague Tom Ambrose takes a well-deserved break.
First up, some Covid numbers out of Australia.
The country’s most populous state of NSW has once again seen a significant jump in cases with q record high 1,742 new Covid cases in the latest reporting period.
Victoria recorded 1,622 new Covid cases as some restrictions eased.
Here’s what we know so far about Omicron’s spread in Australia.
In the UK, Professor Chris Whitty has told people “don’t mix with people you don’t have to” at events that are not among the most important to them.
“I really think people should be prioritising those things - and only those things - that really matter to them,” he said.
Here is the full video.
Crown Princess Amalia, the heir to the Dutch throne, invited 21 people to her 18th birthday party last week even as the government has asked people not to have more than four guests in the face of surging Covid cases.
Amalia, who had cancelled indoor festivities because of the pandemic, held a last-minute gathering in the palace gardens, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote to parliament on Wednesday. Reuters reported:
The eldest daughter of King Willem-Alexander had been expected to quietly celebrate her birthday last Tuesday. Although no rules appear to have been broken, the event came as hospitals struggled to find beds for a surge in Covid patients and concerns about the new Omicron variant.
Social-distancing restrictions were in place nationwide, including the early closing of restaurants and non-essential shops. Professional sporting events were closed to the public and households had been asked not to have more than four guests.
“Guests were asked to take a test. All were vaccinated. The assumption was that they would keep an acceptable distance,” Rutte’s letter to lawmakers said in reference to the party.
But King Willem-Alexander “informed me that in hindsight, it was not such a good idea. I think that’s a sensible reaction,” Rutte wrote.
Canada’s government called on its residents not to leave the country as provinces ramp up vaccinations to combat the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.
Case numbers are increasing as Canadian hospitals struggle to clear backlogs from months of postponed procedures. Many burnt-out staff members appear ill-equipped for another surge in infections, Reuters reported.
“I say very clearly: now is not the time to travel,” health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at a news conference, adding that it’s clear there is community transmission of Omicron in Canada.
Duclos also said the government is sending millions more Covid vaccine doses and rapid tests to the 10 provinces.
Canada already has travel bans on 10 African countries because of concerns about the new variant. Canada advised people in March 2020 not to travel abroad unless necessary but it withdrew the notice in October of this year - before the first Omicron cases were reported - citing the success of vaccination campaigns.
Meanwhile in the US and Canada, Apple has temporarily closed three retail stores in Miami, Maryland and Ottawa after a rise in employee Covid cases and exposures, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The company said that all employees will take tests prior to the stores reopening and that it is staying in touch with the affected workers, according to the report.
The iPhone maker said on Tuesday all customers and employees at its stores will be required to wear masks.
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French president Emmanuel Macron has said it is possible the Covid vaccine would eventually be made compulsory in France, but said it was not the priority for now.
Like its European neighbours and countries across the globe, France is scrambling to find ways to contain a fresh surge in the pandemic. France’s seven-day average of new infections is at its highest since November 2020.
Asked in an interview with TF1 and LCI television stations if Covid vaccination could become mandatory in France, Macron said: “This hypothesis exists.”
But he quickly added that France was “almost there,” in practice. With nearly 90% of eligible people in France already vaccinated, France was not far from the level of take-up that would be achieved by making the jab mandatory, he said.
First and foremost, he encouraged those who have not had a jab yet to get it done, Reuters reported. He said:
There are a little more than 5 million of our fellow citizens who are not vaccinated and therefore really, I call on them to take responsibility because they are not protected and we see many cases today in hospital ... who have not been vaccinated.
Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate: this is the first pillar.
Updated
Good evening, I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you all the latest Covid news from the UK and around the world over the next few hours.
We start with the news that England’s top medic has warned that early data from South Africa on the Omicron variant should be treated with caution as there is a danger people have over-interpreted it to mean there is no problem.
Professor Chris Whitty said what is lacking currently is “clear data on some of the really key questions”.
The chief medical officer said even if the new variant is milder, its ability to spread faster means there could still be an issue.
He told Wednesday’s Downing Street press conference:
The first caution on this is simply a numerical one - if the rate of hospitalisation were to halve but you’re doubling every two days, in two days you’re back to where you were before you actually had the hospitalisation.
If the peak of this is twice as great, then halving of the size of the hospitalisation rate, you still end up in the same place. And this peak is going very fast.
He said it is also important to note that immunity in South Africa is “far higher” in the face of this wave, due to a prior Delta wave and the country’s vaccination programme, adding that that makes their lower hospitalisation rate so far “unsurprising”.
He stated that he remains concerned there will be a problem with Omicron, but the exact nature of it is currently unknown. He said:
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t some degree of slightly milder disease, that is possible. But I just think there’s a danger people have over-interpreted this to say, ‘this is not a problem and what are we worrying about?’
I want to be clear, I’m afraid this is going to be a problem. Exact proportions of it, of course, South African scientists and UK scientists and scientists globally are trying to determine at the moment.
Summary
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The Omicron variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, in laboratory experiments that could help explain its rapid transmission, a study has found. Story here.
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Christmas get-togethers may need to be downsized as Omicron is now “very likely” to increase the death toll in Europe even if it proves to be less severe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said. The new Covid variant’s high transmissibility means that more people are forecast by the EU agency to be admitted to hospital or killed this winter than previously projected. The risk assessment, published on Wednesday, advises governments they urgently need to reintroduce Covid restrictions, with one option being to advise families and friends to avoid mixing over the festive season. Story here.
- Covid cases in the UK reached record levels, with 78,610 new cases reported on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread. The caseload came as Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health and Security Agency, told the Commons transport committee that Omicron was “probably the most significant threat we’ve had since the start of the pandemic” and that the data expected on growth rates over the next few days “will be quite staggering compared to the rate of growth that we’ve seen in cases for previous variants”. “The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening – ie it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said, adding that when Omicron first arrived the doubling time was estimated to be four or five days. Story here.
- Canada is set to advise its population to avoid international travel while provinces ramp up vaccinations to combat the fast-spreading Omicron variant. But efforts to head off a rising Covid wave are complicated by public pandemic fatigue. Justin Trudeau’s government, set to speak on Omicron measures Wednesday afternoon, was expected to advise Canadians to avoid non-essential international travel, a source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Ukraine’s government will extend Covid restrictions for another three months, to 31 March from the end of December, because of low levels of vaccination, the prime minister Denys Shmyhal said. “Until the level of vaccination in Ukraine reaches 70% of the population, we must adhere to all imposed restrictions,” Shmyhal said at a televised government meeting.
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Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated. The new measures, valid from 16 December to 31 January, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections as winter settles in and the Omicron variant takes hold.
- Poland brought in new restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in restaurants, hotels and theatres on Wednesday, as the daily Covid death toll hit its highest level since April. The new limits of 30% of maximum capacity don’t apply for people who have been vaccinated, putting the onus for checking vaccination status on business owners. Also from Wednesday, people flying into Poland from outside the EU’s free travel Schengen area must have proof of a negative test taken no earlier than 24 hours before crossing the border. Among other measures, schools will switch to remote learning for a few days on either side of the Christmas holidays, meaning that children will be out of school from 20 December to 9 January. Nightclubs will also have to close, except for New Year’s parties.
The Crown Princess of Denmark, Mary, tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, the royal court said in a statement.
The royal was isolating in a wing of the Amalienborg Palace in the heart of Copenhagen and the virus was not detected among other members of the family, it said.
The Omicron variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, in laboratory experiments that could help explain its rapid transmission.
The study, by a team from the University of Hong Kong, also found that the new variant grew 10 times slower in lung tissue, which the authors said could be an indicator of lower disease severity.
Michael Chan Chi-wai, who led the work, said the result needed to be interpreted with caution because severe disease is determined not only by how quickly the virus replicates but also by a person’s immune response and, in particular, whether the immune system goes into overdrive, causing a so-called cytokine storm.
“It is also noted that by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic,” he said. “Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the Omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from the Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”
Read the full story here: Omicron found to grow 70 times faster than Delta in bronchial tissue
Christmas get-togethers may need to be downsized as Omicron is now “very likely” to increase the death toll in Europe even if it proves to be less severe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said.
The new Covid variant’s high transmissibility means that more people are forecast by the EU agency to be admitted to hospital or killed this winter than previously projected.
The risk assessment, published on Wednesday, advises governments they urgently need to reintroduce Covid restrictions, with one option being to advise families and friends to avoid mixing over the festive season.
Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, based in Stockholm, said: “We assess the probability of further spread of the Omicron variant in the EU/European economic area as very high, and it is considered very likely to cause additional hospitalisations and fatalities, further to those already expected from previous forecasts that consider only the Delta variant.
“In the current situation, vaccination alone will not allow us to prevent the impact of the Omicron variant, because there will be no time to address the vaccination gaps that still exist.”
Beyond ensuring that masks are worn and public spaces and buses and trains remain uncrowded, Ammon said governments “should also consider advising reduced inter-household mixing”.
She added: “Exercising additional caution is recommended when travelling and when there is contact between people of different ages during the holiday season”.
Read more here: Omicron likely to accelerate death toll in Europe, says health agency
People who have cold-like symptoms in London are more likely to have Covid than a cold, according to the scientist behind the Zoe coronavirus symptom tracker app.
Prof Tim Spector told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that most of the symptoms of Omicron were the same as those of a common cold, including headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and sneezing.
Spector urged people with cold symptoms – and not just the classic Covid symptoms – to take a test. “Things like fever, cough and loss of smell are now in the minority of symptoms we are seeing,” he said. “Most people don’t have classic symptoms.”
He added: “In London, where Covid is increasing rapidly, it’s far more likely to be Covid than it is to be a cold. We’re seeing doubling in the numbers equivalent to what’s being seen elsewhere, every two and a half days.”
Read the full story here: Londoners with cold symptoms more likely to have Covid, says expert
UK reports daily Covid case record with over 78,000 new infections
Covid cases in the UK have reached record levels, with 78,610 new cases reported on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread.
The figure surpasses the previous peak in UK cases – infections that are picked up through testing – of 68,053 reported on 8 January this year. That compares with 59,610 infections and 150 fatalities reported in the 24 hours prior.
The UK also recorded a further 165 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
The caseload came as Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health and Security Agency, told the Commons transport committee that Omicron was “probably the most significant threat we’ve had since the start of the pandemic” and that the data expected on growth rates over the next few days “will be quite staggering compared to the rate of growth that we’ve seen in cases for previous variants”.
“The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening – ie it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said, adding that when Omicron first arrived the doubling time was estimated to be four or five days.
More to follow here: UK Covid cases at record level with 78,610 new infections
Updated
A lioness in a Belgian zoo has been diagnosed with Covid-10 and the members of her pride have gone into isolation in individual enclosures away from the public, the Pairi Daiza Park said.
Dana, one of four lions at the park, was suffering from fever, a cough and loss of appetite, according to vets. None of her keepers has tested positive.
In June, a lioness in a zoo in the Indian city of Chennai died from coronavirus and cases have been reported in other big cats.
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Travellers to Greece from the UK and Denmark will need a negative PCR test to enter the country, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The measure will be in effect from 19 December as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the ministry said. The tests will need to be no more than 48 hours old.
The quickly spreading Omicron variant is expected to become the dominant strain in Denmark this week.
In the UK, at least one person has died after contracting Omicron, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Monday, the first publicly confirmed death globally from the variant.
As Omicron continues its rapid spread, the UK Health Security Agency has announced it will double the availability of home delivery of Covid test kits to 900,000 a day by Saturday so that more people can get lateral flow or PCR tests delivered to their door.
Test availability will also expand at pharmacies, PCR testing sites and local authorities, the UKHSA said. “Pharmacies are now be able to access 10.5 million lateral flow tests per week, an increase of 5.5m tests per week,” the agency stated, adding booking slots for PCR tests will also increase.
However, while the UKHSA said they are working to “secure a further hundreds of millions of lateral flow tests and an increase in PCR laboratory testing capacity of up to 150,000 tests per day” others have warned the system will not hold up against Omicron.
Dr Jeffrey Barrett, who is leading the Covid-19 genomics initiative at the Sanger Institute, tweeted that testing capacity will almost certainly fail to keep up with the variant.
“Even with best efforts we can scale supply linearly, but demand will grow exponentially. This will happen everywhere at [almost] the same time, so global supply chains of reagents, plastics, etc will struggle,” he wrote.
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A retired court of appeal judge and crossbench life peer has been announced as the chair of the UK’s public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, PA Media reports.
Baroness Heather Hallett, who previously acted as coroner at the inquests into the deaths of the victims of the 7/7 bombings, will lead the investigation due to begin next year, Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday.
He said she will bring “a wealth of experience to the role and I know shares my determination that the inquiry examines in a forensic and thoroughgoing way the government’s response to the pandemic”.
The campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice welcomed Lady Hallett’s appointment, but said it comes “far too late”.
Co-founder of the group Matt Fowler said:
Whilst this news is very welcome, unfortunately it comes far too late. We’ve been calling for an inquiry since the end of the first wave, and we will never know how many lives could have been saved had the government had a rapid review phase in summer 2020.
With the Omicron variant upon us, the inquiry really cannot come soon enough.
This is a one-off, historic opportunity to learn lessons to protect lives across the country. We cannot afford to get it wrong and we look forward to working closely with Baroness Hallett to make it a success.
Baroness Hallett said:
I am honoured to be appointed to chair the Covid-19 inquiry. The pandemic has affected us all, some much worse than others. I am acutely conscious of the suffering it has caused to so many.
In the new year I shall be seeking views from those who have lost loved ones and all other affected groups about the inquiry’s terms of reference.
I want to assure the British public that once the terms of reference are finalised, I shall do my utmost to ensure the inquiry answers as many questions as possible about the UK’s response to the pandemic so that we can all learn lessons for the future.
For more updates from the UK, here is my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s Covid live blog:
Updated
Canada will advise citizens on Wednesday to avoid non-essential international travel to help reduce the threat from the Omicron variant, a government source has told Reuters.
The source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, did not give more details.
The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, spoke with the premiers of the 10 provinces on Tuesday to discuss ways of countering Omicron, which is spreading rapidly.
A statement from Trudeau’s office said those on the call noted “the potential for a rapid and strong resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Canada that could put a strain on our health-care systems”.
Canada initially advised people not to travel abroad unless necessary in March 2020 but in late October this year withdrew the notice, citing the success of national vaccination efforts.
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More than two-thirds of community pharmacies in England that offered to help deliver Covid booster jabs are still waiting for permission or have been refused, ministers have admitted, with some chemists having to wait 11 weeks.
The Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, uncovered the low approval rate and long delays through a written parliamentary question answered by the vaccines minister, Maggie Throup.
The failure to give the green light to more pharmacies to become vaccination sites has raised questions about the NHS’s ability to deliver the 1m boosters a day that Boris Johnson has pledged. Fewer GPs are involved in the programme now than when first and second doses were given.
Throup said that by the end of September, 4,733 pharmacies had between them submitted 5,376 expressions of interest to deliver Covid jabs, but only 1,454 had been accepted – a 30.7% approval rate. Some applications were decided by NHS England rather than the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Cooper said the delays were “shocking” and urged NHS England to speed up its decision-making to help the health service administer as many top-ups shots as possible. The Omicron variant is spreading rapidly and is forecast to be causing 1m infections a day by New Year’s Eve.
Here is the full story: 70% of English pharmacies who want to give booster jabs not yet given go-ahead
Boris Johnson’s cabinet has been told that rising Covid-19 infections as a result of Omicron are likely to mean staff shortages across industries and sectors in the UK, similar to the “pingdemic” that was set off by millions self-isolating over the summer. Schools and healthcare setting are also likely to face a significant challenge. Here’s a look at each sector from the Guardian’s chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot.
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Ukraine’s government will extend Covid restrictions for another three months, to 31 March from the end of December, because of low levels of vaccination, the prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday.
“Until the level of vaccination in Ukraine reaches 70% of the population, we must adhere to all imposed restrictions,” Shmyhal said at a televised government meeting.
According to Ukrainian health ministry data, 12.6 million people have received two shots of Covid vaccines out of a population of 41 million, while 3.6 million cases of infection and about 92,000 deaths have been registered.
Google has told its US staff they must be vaccinated against Covid by the middle of January or face serious repercussions including a pay cut and ultimately the loss of their job.
Employees were told they were required to have declared their vaccination status and uploaded proof of it, or to have applied for a medical or religious exemption, by 3 December, according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC, which first reported the story.
After that date, Google said, it would start to contact workers who were unvaccinated or had not uploaded proof of vaccination, or whose exemption requests had not been approved.
According to the memo, employees who missed a deadline of 18 January to comply with the rules would initially be placed on “paid administrative leave” for 30 days, followed by six months of “unpaid personal leave”. In the final step, Google would terminate the person’s employment.
Google is one of several large US employers to have adopted a “no jab, no job” policy for their workforce, although it appears to have gone a step further than some other firms. Google declined a request to comment.
It had already informed its US workforce that they would need to be vaccinated to return to its corporate buildings. The chief executive, Sundar Pichai, told staff in a memo in July that the policy would initially be implemented in the US before being adopted globally. Vaccination has also been made a requirement by other US tech companies including Uber and Facebook.
Read more: Google tells US staff to get vaccinated or face losing job
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has cut short his trip to south-east Asia due to a Covid case among his travelling party, a state department official said on Wednesday.
The decision was made to mitigate the Covid risk and prioritise health and safety, and Blinken had expressed by phone his deep regret to the foreign minister of Thailand, where he was due to attend meetings on Thursday, state department spokesperson Ned Price said.
The positive case was confirmed on Wednesday while Blinken was in Malaysia. He was in Indonesia the previous two days. [see 9.44am.].
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Italy imposes mandatory testing for all EU arrivals
Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated, AFP reports.
Previously, EU arrivals had to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test.
The decree signed by the health minister, Roberto Speranza, late on Tuesday “provides for the obligation of a negative test on departure for all arrivals from European Union countries”, a spokesperson said.
“For the unvaccinated, in addition to the negative test, a five-day quarantine is planned.”
Unvaccinated people arriving from outside the bloc must already quarantine, and tests are required of those with jabs.
The new measures, valid from 16 December to 31 January, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections as winter settles in and the Omicron variant takes hold.
Early data suggests two vaccine doses may not offer as much protection against Omicron and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which currently accounts for the bulk of the world’s Covid cases.
Italy was the first EU country to experience a major outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020. In recent months, it has sought to control infections through the use of health passes showing proof of vaccination, recent recovery from Covid or a negative test for everything from going to work to eating in restaurants.
European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said they had not yet been notified of Italy’s new temporary restrictions, despite what he said was the obligation of member states to inform the Commission 48 hours in advance.
“Additional restrictions on certificate holders are only possible where this may be necessary and proportionate to safeguard public health in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Wigand said.
“It remains crucial to ensure the proportionality of any measures taken”.
More than 20,000 new cases were reported in Italy on Tuesday, and another 120 deaths.
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Kenya has detected its first three cases of the Omicron variant, the country’s health minister said on Wednesday.
“We have at least three cases so far, and have a lot of other samples that we are sequencing,” said Mutahi Kagwe.
He said Omicron was detected among travellers – two Kenyan and one South African – at airports, but did not specify when and where in Kenya the cases were detected.
Kagwe said those hospitalised with Covid in Kenya were still suffering from the Delta variant, but cases of Omicron were expected to quickly rise.
“It is just a matter of time before Omicron becomes the dominant variant,” he told reporters in Mombasa.
The east African country has seen a surge in Covid infections in recent days after a lull lasting several months.
On Tuesday, the health ministry said the number of tests returning positive results stood at 11.5% – a roughly ten-fold rise on a week earlier.
Kagwe ruled out taking “knee-jerk reactions” in response to the Omicron detection, saying any measures taken would be based on science.
“From where we sit, variants will come and variants will go...the decisions we make as a government in order to protect our people must also be measured and calculated,” he said.
The WHO warned Tuesday that the variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act swiftly to rein in transmission and protect their health systems.
Since the variant was first detected last month, it has been reported in 77 countries, according to the WHO.
Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which accounts for the bulk of the world’s coronavirus cases.
Kenya has fully vaccinated only 3.27 million people, or 12% of the adult population, according to official figures.
The government hoped to vaccinate 10 million people by Christmas, and 27 million by the end of 2022.
This week, the high court in Nairobi struck down a government order to prevent unvaccinated Kenyans from accessing services and entering public places such as national parks, bars and restaurants.
In total, the country has recorded 256,815 infection, of which 5,349 have been fatal.
Updated
Poland brings in further Covid curbs as death toll climbs
Poland brought in new restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in restaurants, hotels and theatres on Wednesday, as the daily Covid death toll hit its highest level since April [see 10.10am.], AFP reports.
The new limits of 30% of maximum capacity don’t apply for people who have been vaccinated, putting the onus for checking vaccination status on business owners.
Legislation allowing employers to verify whether employees have been vaccinated or had a recent test showing they do not have Covid is also making its way through parliament.
The health ministry on Wednesday reported 660 Covid deaths in Poland in the last 24 hours – the highest daily tally since April.
“The overwhelming majority are unvaccinated people,” government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster Radio Zet.
“The only scientific solutions that are known at the moment are to vaccinate and react quickly when you get sick,” he said.
The health ministry has said it would also like to introduce mandatory vaccination for health workers, teachers and the military from 1 March but the cabinet is divided on the issue.
Also from Wednesday, people flying into Poland from outside the EU’s free travel Schengen area must have proof of a negative test taken no earlier than 24 hours before crossing the border.
Among other measures, schools will switch to remote learning for a few days on either side of the Christmas holidays, meaning that children will be out of school from 20 December to 9 January.
Nightclubs will also have to close, except for New Year’s parties.
Poland’s rightwing populist government has so far been very cautious about following other European countries in embracing vaccine certificates and mandatory vaccinations.
Vaccination hesitancy is still very high in Poland, a country of 38 million people where only around 54% of the population is fully vaccinated – one of the lowest levels in the EU.
Most of the opposition is calling on the government to impose tougher restrictions and the Left party has presented proposals for obligatory vaccinations for all adults in Poland.
Updated
Some clinically vulnerable patients say their third Covid vaccine dose has been wrongly recorded as a booster jab, resulting in them being turned away, writes Dr Frances Ryan in her column this week.
Here is an extract:
Most worryingly, large numbers of clinically vulnerable people are missing out on their booster. Take those whose health or age means they are unable to leave the house to go to a vaccine centre. Nearly two-thirds of housebound people are yet to receive their booster after many already stretched GPs opted out of delivering top-up jabs. That translates as about 300,000 of the most clinically vulnerable people in the country having not yet received their extra protection.
In March, I reported how some people who were housebound were missing out on the first and second vaccines, and in an all too predictable tragedy it is happening again. I spoke to the family of an 81-year-old woman this week who missed out on her Covid jabs last year because she was unable to leave her home and her GP “didn’t have her down as housebound on the system”. After developing bedsores, she was admitted to hospital and caught Covid while there. Unvaccinated, she died soon after. “Covid safety measures meant we had to have a funeral with no wake and the whole thing was just horrific,” her granddaughter told me. “My step-grandad sat there and cried and said, ‘I just want to kiss her goodbye.’”
Elsewhere, immunocompromised patients report they are now missing out on additional doses of vaccines after confusion over who is eligible for a third dose followed by a booster jab. Some patients say their third dose has been wrongly recorded on their medical records as a booster jab, resulting in them being turned away. One woman with lupus, who has to take multiple medications to suppress her immune system, told me she’s due her booster this week – but her GP can’t give it to her because the system didn’t record her third dose correctly. “My GP is amazing – if she could find a way to give it to me she would – but the system just won’t allow it.”
Or consider vulnerable infants, who have not even had their first vaccine dose. Leading scientists this week called for the vaccination of young children in a bid to tackle the new variant and keep schools open, with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said to be currently reviewing data on Covid jabs for children over five as a “matter of urgency”. Remarkably, however, there has been no word on the need to specifically protect children with disabilities. Unlike other nations, such as the US, where vaccines have already been rolled out to children as young as five with no underlying health condition, in the UK a vaccine has still not been approved for under-12s – even if a child is extremely vulnerable.
Read the full column here: Booster jabs are vital – why is it so difficult for clinically vulnerable people to access them?
Omicron will likely be the dominant Covid variant in Ireland by next week, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said, after it rose to accounting for 14% of cases from just 1% a week ago.
Varadkar told the Newstalk Radio station that he expected the country’s health chiefs to recommend a tightening of Covid restrictions on Thursday around the managing of close contacts, decreasing social mixing and on international travel.
The government also plans to increase the number of booster doses administered to 1.75 million by Christmas and possibly 2 million by year-end, Varadkar said, up from a previous target of 1.5 million.
Almost 1.3 million of Ireland’s 5 million population has received a booster jab to date.
Japan’s health ministry said its panel of experts had agreed Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccines could be used for booster shots, setting the stage for official government approval.
Japan started administering booster shots this month with Pfizer Inc vaccines.
The panel agreed on Wednesday that Moderna vaccines could be used on those aged 18 or older for booster shots, the ministry said.
The same age restriction is being applied to Pfizer vaccines for booster shots.
Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Here's a summary of the latest developments...
- European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned that Omicron could become dominant in Europe by mid-January. But she insisted that the 27 nations have sufficient vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
- Poland’s daily Covid death toll has hit a fourth wave record as 660 more people died with the virus and 24,000 new cases were reported. It comes as the country tries to battle high infection rates with tighter restrictions.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that preliminary evidence indicates that Covid vaccines may be less effective against infection and transmission of the more infectious Omicron variant. In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said more data is needed to better understand the extent to which Omicron may evade immunity from vaccines or previous infection.
- A journalist accompanying US secretary of state Antony Blinken on a trip to the UK and south-east Asia has tested positive for Covid. A spokesperson for the state department, Ned Price, said one of 12 members of the travelling press corps on Blinken’s trip tested positive on Wednesday in Malaysia.
- EU countries including Greece, Italy, Spain and Hungary have started vaccinating five- to 11-year-olds. The vaccination campaign expansion comes after the EU regulator last month approved a reduced-dose vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech.
- German chancellor Olaf Scholz today promised that the country “we will win the fight against this pandemic” in his first major address to parliament. He urged Germans to get vaccinated, telling them it is the only way out of the Covid crisis.
- German police have searched several locations in the eastern state of Saxony as part of an investigation into what they said was a plot by anti-vaccination activists to murder the state’s leader, Michael Kretschmer.
- A UK government adviser, Prof Adam Finn, has warned that the latest Covid wave is moving “faster than ever” amid warnings that Omicron infections could reach 1m a day by the end of December.
- The UK transport secretary has said that “with some confidence” people in the UK will be able to enjoy Christmas, despite soaring Omicron cases, and claimed the country is in a “much better position” than last year. Grant Shapps told Sky News that ministers “want people to enjoy Christmas this year”, adding: “We want people to be sensible but to enjoy their Christmas.”
That’s it from me for today. Handing over now to my colleague Lucy Campbell. Thanks for reading.
Updated
The UK’s independent NHS Race and Health Observatory has today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (CDC) to improve long standing ethnic health inequalities.
The organisations, based in London and Atlanta, Georgia, will join efforts from January 2022.
Dr Habib Naqvi, Director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said:
As we face the developing emergence of the Omicron variant globally, this is a pivotal time to seal our commitment to address long-standing ethnic health inequalities as well as being responsive to immediate health challenges, working with our US counterpart.
We are thrilled to have this landmark exchange framework in place which will allow us to collaborate with CDC in improving the future health prospects and outcomes for our respective Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and patients. It is an important step in cultivating collaborative learning for tackling ethnic health inequalities across the globe.
The European Union’s drug regulator has recommended that a booster dose of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine may be given to adults at least two months after a first dose.
A booster dose of the vaccine may also be given after two doses of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna’s vaccines, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded, reports Reuters.
How do young children cope with Covid anxiety? Sally Weale reports:
Omicron could be dominant in Europe by mid-January, warns von der Leyen
European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned that Omicron could become dominant in Europe by mid-January.
But she insisted that the 27 nations have sufficient vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic, reports AFP.
“If you look at the time it takes for new cases to double in number, it seems to be doubling every two or three days. And that’s massive. We’re told that by mid-January, we should expect Omicron to be the new dominant variant in Europe,” she told the European Parliament, citing scientific data.
“But over the last year, we’ve worked hard and we’ve achieved a great deal and that is why Europe is in a better position now to fight the virus.”
She said there were “enough vaccines doses for every European” as EU countries try to speed up booster rollouts to stop the spread of the new variant.
“We’re now in a position to produce 300m doses of the vaccine per month here in Europe,” von der Leyen said.
To date, 66.6% of the EU population have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and 62 million had received a third booster jab, she said, adding that the priority now is to increase vaccination rates, including among children, and overcome scepticism.
It comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday said that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and was “probably” in most countries.
Updated
Poland daily Covid death toll hits fourth wave record with 660 new fatalities
Poland’s daily Covid death toll has hit a fourth wave record as 660 more people died with the virus and 24,000 new cases were reported.
It comes as the country tries to battle high infection rates with tighter restrictions, reports Reuters.
“This is the effect of these last weeks, when the number of cases has accumulated. They are mainly unvaccinated people,” a government spokesman, Piotr Muller, told private broadcaster Radio Zet.
Poland’s highest daily death toll of the pandemic was recorded in April when 954 people died.
The country brought in new restrictions today – including on capacity limits for public spaces and closing nightclubs – in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.
“There is no doubt that Omicron is already in Poland … Within the EU, we have free movement of people, so it is obvious that this mutation should be in Poland,” Muller said.
Updated
WHO says Covid vaccines may be less effective against Omicron
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that preliminary evidence indicates that Covid vaccines may be less effective against infection and transmission of the more infectious Omicron variant.
In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said more data is needed to better understand the extent to which Omicron may evade immunity from vaccines or previous infection, reports Reuters.
“As a result of this, the overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high,” the WHO said.
Updated
Journalist accompanying US secretary of state on trip to UK and south-east Asia tests positive for Covid
A journalist accompanying US secretary of state Antony Blinken on a trip to the UK and southeast Asia has testing positive for Covid.
A spokesperson for the state department, Ned Price, said one of 12 members of the travelling press corps on Blinken’s trip tested positive on Wednesday in Malaysia, reports the Associated Press.
He said that neither Blinken, any of his senior staff or other members of the press corps have tested positive.
Blinken arrived in Kuala Lumpur late last night from Jakarta, Indonesia and is due to arrive in Bangkok, Thailand later today.
The first stop of his trip was in Liverpool, England, where he took part in a G7 summit over the weekend.
Updated
Greece, Italy, Spain and Hungary start vaccinating five- to 11-year-olds
EU countries including Greece, Italy, Spain and Hungary have started vaccinating five- to 11-year-olds, reports the Associated Press.
The vaccination campaign expansion comes after the EU regulator last month approved a reduced-dose vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech.
A children’s hospital in Athens started administering jabs early on Wednesday – hours after Greece reported 130 Covid deaths, its highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic.
More than 30,000 vaccination appointments for children aged under 12 have been booked.
Greek education minister Niki Kerameus said:
I won’t hide the fact that on a personal level after having talked with doctors and receiving scientific data, our family decided to vaccinate our son who is five-and-a-half years old.
Updated
The UK Covid blog with Andrew Sparrow is now up and running:
This blog will continue with global Covid news.
The Scottish government has appointed a chair and published the terms of reference for the country’s public inquiry into the handling of coronavirus.
In a statement to parliament, deputy first minister John Swinney confirmed that the Hon Lady Poole QC, senator of the College of Justice of Scotland, will chair the inquiry.
He also published the inquiry’s terms of reference including 12 areas of investigation for the inquiry, which will span 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022.
Swinney said:
From my own and the first minister’s interactions with Lady Poole, I am in no doubt that she has the necessary leadership skills, integrity and deep technical knowledge to undertake this inquiry. Her expertise in administrative and human rights law is exactly in line with our expectations of a human rights-based approach to the inquiry.
We are committed to working with the UK government to develop the approach to the UK-wide inquiry and expect the chair of the Scottish public inquiry to coordinate with the chair of the UK-wide inquiry.
Poole said:
I am honoured to chair this independent public inquiry examining the strategic response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland … The inquiry will work independently to establish the facts in an open and transparent way in order to determine what lessons can be learned for the future. There is a great deal to be done in a short space of time. I will continue to give considerable thought as to how best to conduct the inquiry to ensure it fully achieves its aims, including a careful and thorough examination of the terms of reference.
Updated
Germany's new chancellor promises country 'will win the fight' against pandemic in first major address to parliament
German chancellor Olaf Scholz today promised that the country “we will win the fight against this pandemic” in his first major address to parliament.
He urged Germans to get vaccinated, telling them it is the only way out of the Covid crisis.
“I tell citizens of our country, ‘yes it will get better, yes we will win the fight against this pandemic with the biggest determination, and yes we will win this fight, we will overcome the crisis.”
He said there were “no red lines” for his government in tackling the pandemic’s fourth wave, which experts say is predominantly driven by high numbers of unvaccinated people.
Updated
Soaring Covid cases could cause major shortages across industry, hospitality and healthcare in the UK, ministers have been told, as rail companies cancelled services and Royal Mail said it was experiencing high staff absences.
UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has denied that Boris Johnson’s authority has been undermined by last night’s Conservative rebellion over Covid passes.
He told LBC:
In terms of his authority, I saw the prime minister on Sunday night asking the country to get the booster jab and yesterday walked past huge queues around the block of people responding to the prime minister’s plea.
Having been the person to get this country first of all jabbed ahead of every other major economy and now booster jabbed ahead of every other country, comes down personally to the authority of the prime minister.
Updated
A UK coronavirus expert has said the virus is so widespread in London that those with cold symptoms are more likely to have Covid than a cold.
Prof Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, who runs the Zoe Covid symptom app, told the BBC’s Today programme:
In London, where Covid is increasing rapidly, it’s far more likely to be Covid than it is to be a cold.
We’re seeing doubling in the numbers equivalent to what’s being seen elsewhere, every two-and-a-half days, and that really means numbers are going up.
If we look at our regional charts we see London accelerating more than we’ve seen it since the very first wave and this now means that Omicron is the predominant variant already.
We’ll be at 100% very soon, so that’s happened in just a matter of days – that’s is why so many people are going down with infections.
Updated
The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said that parliament will be recalled if further Covid restrictions are required during the Christmas recess.
“We have got in place now the measures that we believe will see us through to the new year,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“If we did need to do anything else, parliament would be recalled too in order to vote on doing that, so it won’t just be an automated thing. We want people to be able enjoy Christmas this year. We are definitely in a better position than we were last year.”
Updated
German police investigate alleged plot by anti-vaxxers to murder state's leader
German police have searched several locations in the eastern state of Saxony as part of an investigation into what they said was a plot by anti-vaccination activists to murder the state’s leader, Michael Kretschmer.
Reuters reports that searches in the city of Dresden targeted individual members of a group on the messaging service Telegram, where plans for the killing were discussed in connection with the state government’s coronavirus curbs, police said.
The group Dresden Offlinevernetzung, or Dresden offline networking, came to the attention of authorities after an investigation published last week by the broadcaster ZDF.
Updated
Latest Covid wave moving 'faster than ever' in UK, warns government adviser
A UK government adviser has warned that the latest Covid wave is moving “faster than ever” amid warnings that Omicron infections could reach 1m a day by the end of December.
Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told BBC Breakfast:
The wave is coming very fast and in fact alarmingly fast – if anything faster than ever. So it really is a race at the moment.
The more immunity that we’ve all got the less of a problem this is going to be but I’m afraid it is going to be a serious problem either way.
He said boosters take effect quickly – expected to reach full protection after two weeks and partial protection after a week.
It does come through very fast because you’ve got immunological memory, you’ve seen the antigen before from your previous doses, so the level of protection goes up pretty quick.
We generally look for the level of protection around two weeks, because that’s probably when you get to pretty much maximum levels, but already at a week your antibody levels will be much higher than they were before you had the booster. So it does get going pretty quick.
Updated
As people across the UK rush to get their Covid booster doses, Sky News reports that people have been queuing in Ealing from 6.15am today.
UK transport secretary says he can say 'with some confidence' that people will be able to enjoy Christmas this year, despite soaring Omicron cases
The UK transport secretary has said that “with some confidence” people in the UK will be able to enjoy Christmas, despite soaring Omicron cases, and claimed the country is in a “much better position” than last year.
Grant Shapps told Sky News that ministers “want people to enjoy Christmas this year”, adding: “We want people to be sensible but to enjoy their Christmas.”
He said problems with lateral flow tests on the NHS website are a distribution issue, saying: “There’s plenty of supply in the country.”
England, he said, would not be following in the footsteps of Scotland, which is advising people to limit socialising to three households before Christmas.
He said the number of people hospitalised by Omicron is still 10 and that around 9,000 people have tested positive for the variant.
Shapps said Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, did the “right thing” to resign after a photograph emerged of him at a “raucous” party during lockdown last year.
“The last figure we had is unchanged.”
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 15, 2021
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tells Sky News that 10 people have been hospitalised with the Omicron variant.#KayBurley: https://t.co/JUaxcgvjhd pic.twitter.com/GzGP82tIqk
Hi, I’m looking after the global Covid blog for the next few hours. Please get in touch with any tips or suggestions: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk
Updated
Pfizer set to oust AstraZeneca as top supplier of Covid shots to poor nations
Pfizer and BioNtech are set to displace AstraZeneca as the main suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines to the global Covax programme at the start of 2022, Reuters reports.
The expected change comes with headaches for receiving countries that lack sufficient cold storage capacity to handle the Pfizer vaccine, and amid risks of a shortage of syringes needed to administer that shot.
AstraZeneca is currently the most distributed vaccine by Covax, according to data from Gavi, the vaccine alliance that co-manages the programme with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The programme has so far delivered more than 600m shots to nearly 150 countries, of which more than 220m are AstraZeneca’s and about 160m Pfizer’s.
But in the first quarter of next year Pfizer is set to take over, according to Gavi and WHO figures on doses assigned by the Covax programme for future supplies.
Updated
Covid could cause major shortages across industry, hospitality and healthcare
Soaring Covid cases could cause major shortages across industry, hospitality and healthcare, UK ministers have been told, as rail companies cancelled services and Royal Mail said it was experiencing high staff absences.
According to cabinet sources, Boris Johnson and England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said at a briefing that rising cases would be likely to affect businesses with mass worker absences. Whitty also told ministers to expect a “significant increase” in hospital admissions.
West End shows have been cancelled because of the surge in suspected Omicron cases, while waste collections, deliveries and schools are all under threat from shortages. No 10 emphasised there had not been “any discussion or any warning about hospitals or clinical settings having to close as a result of this variant”.
Read the full story here.
Hello and thanks for following along. If you’ve just joined here’s a quick snapshot of the main developments so far.
All adults in England must now show a Covid pass detailing proof of double-vaccination or a negative PCR or lateral flow test result within the last 48 hours in order to enter nightclubs and other large events.
The new measures come into force today and apply to nightclubs, indoor unseated venues with a capacity of more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues that hold more than 4,000 people, and any venue with more than 10,000 people.
A warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned that the Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate.
“The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries even if it hasn’t been detected yet,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” he added.
Heres a rundown of everything you might have missed:
- Almost 100 Conservative lawmakers voted against new coronavirus restrictions, dealing a major blow to British prime minister Boris Johnson’s authority and raising questions about his leadership.
- Australia reopened borders to vaccinated skilled migrants and foreign students after a near two-year ban on entry.
-
New Zealand has fully vaccinated 90% of its eligible population, prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced. Auckland also reopened its border.
- Italy extended a Covid-19 state of emergency to March 31 and ruled that all visitors from EU countries must take a test before departure.
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South Korea reported its highest daily total of cases, as breakthrough infections among those already vaccinated continue to spike.
- Cambodia detected its first case of the Omicron variant in a local woman who had travelled from Ghana.
- The Philippines also detected two imported cases of Omicron.
- Rwanda confirmed six cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said.
- Low vaccination rates in regions including Africa – where Omicron was first detected and which has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week – would provide breeding grounds for new variants, the World Health Organization warned.
- Africa is experiencing its fastest surge in cases this year, with the number up 83% in the past week, although deaths remain low, the WHO said.
- Canada is expected to toughen restrictions on international travel with new measures to be announced on Wednesday, CBC News reported.
- Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine has been less effective in South Africa at keeping infected people out of hospital since the Omicron variant emerged last month, a study showed.
- All three US-authorised vaccines appear to be significantly less protective against Omicron in laboratory testing, but a booster dose likely restores most of the protection, a study showed.
- Pfizer’s antiviral Covid-19 pill showed near 90% efficacy in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in high-risk patients, and recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against Omicron.
- The US surpassed 50 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Updated
The Philippines has detected two imported cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant of concern, its first reported cases, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.
The two Omicron variant cases, detected from 48 samples sequenced on 14 December were currently isolated in a quarantine facility, the department said in a statement.
The news comes as an incoming typhoon has forced the Philippines to delay Covid-19 vaccinations of millions of people living in the path of the storm, as authorities hastened preparations in anticipation of its arrival this week.
New Zealand reaches 90% vaccination milestone
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country has fully vaccinated 90% of its eligible population.
In her final speech to Parliament for the year, Ardern said:
“That 90% puts us above the United States, the UK, Israel...we are now finishing with a rate much higher than them.”
“And we have not finished. In Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), we are seeing some [District Health Boards] reach 97%, so let’s keep going.”
Ardern concluded her speech by thanking New Zealanders for putting in the hard work to get through the Covid-19 outbreak.
“It’s been hard, people have been weary, but Kiwis have done what it takes to put us in the best possible place for us to keep moving...and I for one will never underestimate New Zealanders. So to everyone, I wish you a wonderful break, you bloody deserve it.”
California is exempting San Francisco from a rule that takes effect on Wednesday requiring all people to wear masks indoors in a bid to contain a troubling rise in new coronavirus cases, the Associated Press reports.
San Francisco will continue to allow fully vaccinated people to remove their masks in gyms and workplaces while its overall masking mandate remains in effect, the city Department of Public Health announced.
“It’s a recognition of all of the thought and care that San Francisco residents have been putting into staying as safe as possible,” said Dr Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer.
About 86% of eligible San Francisco residents have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the public health department.
Updated
Rwanda has just confirmed six cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said, pushing for authorities in the small East African nation to urge people to get vaccinated.
“All arriving passengers must quarantine for three days at a designated hotel at their own cost,” the cabinet of ministers said in a resolution on Tuesday, adding that it had suspended night club operations and live band entertainment elsewhere.
A member of United States secretary of state Antony Blinken’s travelling press pool has tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Kuala Lumpur and is isolating, a state department spokesperson said.
Secretary Blinken and his senior staff were also tested upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur and were all tested negative, Reuters reports.
The Chinese vaccine Sinovac, which has been administered to millions of people around the world, does not provide enough antibodies to neutralise the Omicron variant, according to researchers in Hong Kong.
In a sample of 25 people, initial findings revealed that none of them showed sufficient antibodies in their blood serum to take out the threat of the Omicron variant, researchers at the University of Hong Kong said on Tuesday night, Bloomberg reported.
Out of another group of 25 people double-dosed with the Pfizer jab, Inc. and BioNTech SE, five had neutralising ability against the new variant, the scientists said.
Do Covid vaccine mandates work?
In Australia, where employment-related mandates on the coronavirus vaccine were introduced months ago, the stories of two women demonstrate how such measures can work – and how they can backfire.
The Guardian’s science correspondent, Nicola Davis, explains that vaccine mandates are nothing new: governments around the world have long imposed vaccination requirements in different areas of life. Such policies can be effective – but health officials must be prepared to confront misinformation and public mistrust.
Listen to the latest Today in Focus podcast here.
South Korea sets daily Covid record, brings back restrictions
South Korea will clamp down on social gatherings and cut the hours of some businesses to fight a record-breaking surge of the coronavirus that has led to a spike in hospitalisations and deaths.
Prime minster Kim Boo-kyum confirmed the government’s intent to restore stricter social distancing measures during a meeting on Wednesday as the country set another new one-day record in infections with 7,850 cases, the fourth time this month the daily tally exceeded 7,000.
The country’s death toll is now 4,456 after 70 virus patients died in the past 24 hours, while a record 964 patients were in critical or serious condition.
Officials previously said the country’s medical system could buckle if the number of serious cases topped 1,000 because it would greatly hamper hospitals’ ability to respond not only to Covid-19 but also to other medical conditions.
Kim Boo-kyum said:
The government sees the current virus situation as serious and plans to enforce stronger social distancing measures.
We are considering measures that include further reducing the size of allowable social gatherings and imposing business-hour restrictions, and these steps will be confirmed and announced soon.”
Updated
Omicron likely to become dominant strain in Australia, experts say
A third booster Covid-19 vaccine dose will be essential to get high protection against symptoms from the Omicron variant and it appears likely the variant will become the dominant strain in Australia, virologists from the Kirby Institute say.
The new data from the Kirby Institute comes as Covid-19 case numbers in New South Wales jumped again on Wednesday to 1,360, 25 of them are the Omicron variant. There are now 89 Omicron cases in NSW.
The researchers also said Covid boosters may be required every six months to protect against the variant.
Virologists from the Kirby Institute presented new data on Wednesday after growing the Omicron variant in a laboratory and testing how it responded to various samples, including from the fully vaccinated, from those who had recovered from the virus but were unvaccinated, and those who had recovered from the virus and also received two vaccine doses.
Read the full story here.
Auckland, New Zealand, reopens border
There were tears of joy, long embraces and sighs of relief, as thousands of New Zealanders boarded flights or hit the road on Wednesday, in what was, for many, the first reunion with friends and family in four months.
The wider Auckland region was closed off in August as the city tried to contain an outbreak of Covid-19. In November, the government announced it would relax the border from 15 December to allow people to travel, due to the eligible population nearing the 90% double-vaccination rate.
To brighten your day, here’s the heartwarming moment a grandmother and granddaughter were reunited after months apart due to Auckland’s lockdown: pic.twitter.com/Jkv0eBPqcD
— Jake Kenny (@JakeKennyNZ) December 14, 2021
At midnight, the road checkpoints at the edge of the city were removed, and the queues of cars, some with boats and trailers attached, were given the green light to move. On Wednesday morning, airport terminals around the country buzzed with Aucklanders eager to leave and reunite with loved ones.
About 12,000 people were expected to fly out of Auckland on Wednesday. It will mark the beginning of a 4000% increase in movement through the airport over the summer period, the airport said.
Read the full story from our reporter in New Zealand, Eva Corlett, here.
Cambodia has just detected the country’s first case of the Omicron variant in a local woman who had travelled from Ghana.
The 23-year old woman had returned from Ghana via Dubai and Bangkok, the ministry of health said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The woman, who was 15 weeks pregnant, had been admitted to hospital for treatment, it said.
Africa is 'breeding ground' for new variants, WHO warns
Low vaccination rates in regions including Africa - where Omicron was first detected and which has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week - would provide breeding grounds for new variants, the World Health Organization has warned.
WHO estimated it will take Africa until May 2022 to have 40% vaccination coverage and until August 2024 to reach 70% as countries with plentiful vaccine supplies raced to administer third doses to beat Omicron.
Although Africa has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week, the region is reporting a lower number of deaths compared with previous waves.
Omicron probably present undetected in most countries, WHO says
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate and had “probably” spread to most nations undetected.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday:
The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries even if it hasn’t been detected yet. Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.”
The WHO urged countries to act swiftly to rein in transmission and protect their health systems and warned against complacency.
WHO expert Bruce Aylward strenuously warned against “jumping to a conclusion that this is a mild disease”.
“We could be setting ourselves up for a very dangerous situation,” he added.
Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. I need to be very clear: vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 14, 2021
It’s not vaccines instead of masks, distancing, ventilation or hand hygiene.
Do it all. Do it consistently. Do it well. pic.twitter.com/YAVfJXsviQ
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we go through all the latest coronavirus developments.
Let’s start with the news that the United States has just surpassed 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to recently updated data from Johns Hopkins University.
The grim milestone means the country now has the highest number of reported total Covid-19 deaths in the world, followed by Brazil and India. On Monday, the US reached 50m confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Covid deaths this year were mostly in unvaccinated patients and may have been preventable, health experts say. Roughly 60% of the US population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, CDC data shows.
A warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) has also cautioned that the Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate.
“The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries even if it hasn’t been detected yet,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” he added.
The WHO also noted that low vaccination rates in regions including Africa - where Omicron was first detected and which has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week - would provide breeding grounds for new variants.
Here is a snapshot of all the key Covid developments:
- The US surpassed 50 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
- The UK has recorded another 59,610 Covid cases, the highest figure since early January. A further 633 confirmed Omicron cases were reported, taking the total to 5,346, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
- In England, MPs have backed Covid passes being required at nightclubs and large venues as dozens of Tories rebelled against the government’s ‘plan B’ winter Covid measures.
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Germany will exempt people who have had a booster jab from having to take a Covid test before entering some leisure facilities, federal and regional health ministers agreed on Tuesday.
- Italy has extended a Covid-19 state of emergency to 31 March.
- Denmark and Norway announced stricter Covid measures to battle soaring infection numbers.
- Austria is likely to recommend Covid booster shots for children aged 12 and over once four months have passed since their second vaccine dose, putting the country ahead of most European countries in terms of vaccinating children.
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Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr Paul Burton, said Omicron “poses a real threat” and cautioned against claims it causes milder disease, warning that Omicron and Delta are likely to circulate together for some time.
- The UK will need a mini-furlough in the event that the Omicron variant forces the government into closing parts of the economy, the International Monetary Fund has said.
- Pfizer says its antiviral Covid-19 pill showed near 90% efficacy in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in high-risk patients, and recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against the Omicron variant.
- France detected 130 cases of the Omicron variant but so far has no plans to impose new restrictions.
- South Korea marked its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic.
- Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett is in quarantine after catching a flight with someone who tested positive for Covid.
- Billie Eilish revealed that she had Covid-19 in August, and said that she felt sure she “would have died” had she not been vaccinated.
- China’s economically important Zhejiang province is battling a Covid outbreak that has left half a million people quarantined and some districts under business shutdown.
- The US air force discharged 27 people for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate.
- Mainland China detected its second imported case of the Omicron variant, this time in its southern Guangdong province, following reports of the first case in the northern city of Tianjin on Monday.
- Africa is experiencing its fastest surge in Covid cases this year, with the number up 83% in the past week, although deaths remain low.
- High levels of previous exposure to three previous waves of Covid infection in South Africa may explain the relatively low levels of hospitalisation and severe disease in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant, rather than the variant itself being less virulent.
