That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, reporting from Sydney, Australia.
Thanks for following along – this blog is now closed. You can catch up with the latest coronavirus coverage on our new blog here.
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Summary
- Stricter coronavirus testing is set to be required for all travellers to the US amid Omicron variant concerns, the Washington Post reports.
- All eligible adults in the UK should be offered a Covid booster jab by the end of January, British prime minister Boris Johnson announced.
- The Omicron variant was present in Europe at least 10 days ago, according to health authorities in the Netherlands.
- Austria extends lockdown to 20 days after lawmakers voted to extend a nationwide lockdown by 10 days on Tuesday, bringing the total lockdown ending on 11 December to 20 days.
- Germany’s constitutional court has ruled that sweeping restrictions to stem Covid infections such as curfews, school closures and contact restrictions were lawful, in a decision that could pave the way for further curbs.
- Greece has said it will fine people over the age of 60 who have not received a first Covid-19 shot €100 per month from 16 January.
- All travellers entering Ireland will now have to show negative Covid tests.
- An expert committee voted to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration authorise Merck’s Covid pill for high-risk adults, the first of a new class of antiviral drug that could tackle Omicron and other variants.The drug, molnupiravir, is likely to be approved for older and more vulnerable people at greater risk of severe illness.
- Brazil reports first Omicron cases in Latin America after detecting two cases of the Omicron Covid strain on Tuesday, the country’s health regulator, Anvisa, said.
- Slovenia has halted use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after experts confirmed a death in September was related to an extremely rare blood-clotting condition.
- Poland records highest Covid deaths since April with 526 deaths in the past 24 hours.
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Israel’s health minister says boosters may protect against Omicron.
- The US Food & Drug Administration says it is evaluating the effectiveness of authorised Covid vaccines against the Omicron variant and expects to have more information in the next few weeks.
- Japan confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant. A Namibian diplomat in his 30s is thought to have tested positive for the variant.
Stricter coronavirus testing is set to be required for all travellers to the US amid Omicron variant concerns, the Washington Post reports.
The Biden administration is believed to be preparing stricter testing requirements for all travellers, including returning Americans, according to three federal health officials.
The move is part of an enhanced winter Covid strategy Biden plans to announce on Thursday, the publication added.
US officials will require everyone entering the country to be tested one day before boarding flights, regardless of their vaccination status or country of departure. Administration officials are also considering a requirement that all travellers get retested within three to five days of arrival.
Authorities are reportedly debating a controversial proposal to require all travellers, including US citizens, to self-quarantine for seven days, even if their test results are negative.
It’s Samantha Lock back on deck and ready to take you through all the Covid news.
Let’s start off with some Covid numbers out of Australia before I dive in.
The state of Victoria has just reported 1,179 new Covid cases and six deaths in the past 24 hours. NSW has recorded 251 Covid cases and no deaths.
Ukraine recorded 10,554 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, according to local media Ukrinform, down from a late-October peak when daily cases topped 27,000.
A further 561 people died from Covid-related causes, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said, down from 756 deaths on the same day last week.
Ukrainian authorities ordered on Monday that arrivals from seven African countries must complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine, to prevent spread of the Omicron variant.
That’s all from me, Jem Bartholomew, here in London as Samantha Lock in Australia takes over from here.
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Austria extends lockdown to 20 days
Lawmakers in Austria voted to extend a nationwide lockdown by 10 days on Tuesday, bringing the total lockdown ending on 11 December to 20 days. The government said this will be the maximum time.
About 67% of Austria’s population is double vaccinated, lagging behind other Western European nations.
Austria detected 8,186 positive Covid infections on Tuesday, down from a peak of 15,365 positive tests on Wednesday last week. Cases began surging in early October, prompting heightened restrictions.
The lockdown means people can only leave home under specific conditions – such as exercise and other activities for “physical and mental recovery,” work and essential shopping. Austria also reported its first Omicron strain case on Sunday.
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An expert committee voted to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration authorise Merck’s Covid pill for high-risk adults, the first of a new class of antiviral drug that could tackle Omicron and other variants.
The drug, molnupiravir, is likely to be approved for older and more vulnerable people at greater risk of severe illness. The treatment is given within five days of the start of symptoms and is taken as 40 pills over five days.
Molnupiravir works differently from existing vaccines. That might give it the edge over Omicron.
The New York Times reports the details of how it works:
Health officials around the world have been counting on the new pills to reduce the number of severe cases and save lives. If Omicron causes a surge in severe infections, it could make them even more important.
Scientists have yet to run experiments to see how well the pills block Omicron viruses from replicating. But there are reasons to think they would remain effective even if the variant can sometimes evade vaccines.
The pills do not target the spike protein [that Omicron mutated]. Instead, they weaken two proteins involved in the virus’s replication machinery. Omicron carries only one mutation in each of those proteins, and neither looks as if it would stop the pills from doing their jobs.
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Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, said National Guard members who refuse the Covid vaccine will be barred from federally funded drills and training required to maintain their Guard status.
“Vaccination is essential to the health and readiness of the force,” he wrote in an internal memo, first reported by Associated Press.
All members of the US military are required to be vaccinated unless they obtain an official waiver. According to National Guard Bureau figures, about 70% of Guard members were vaccinated with at least one shot on 22 November and 63% were double vaccinated (and the precise figures may be higher).
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Here’s the UK’s Covid infections visualised.
Today saw a further 39,716 Covid cases, down from 42,482 on Tuesday last week. New infections have rarely dropped below 30,000 a day in recent months.
Canada will ban fliers from a further three countries – Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt – to suppress the Omicron variant, the Toronto Star reports.
Canada has detected five Omicron strain cases so far, at least two from travellers from Nigeria.
Last week Ottawa barred travellers who had recently visited South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Premiers in Ontario and Quebec are calling for tougher measures and greater testing from Ottawa.
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Brazil reports first Omicron cases in Latin America
Brazil has detected two cases of the Omicron Covid strain, the country’s health regulator, Anvisa, said on Tuesday, the first infections of the variant recorded in Latin America.
The two infections are related and linked to travel from South Africa. Reuters has the details:
Anvisa said a traveller arriving in Sao Paulo from South Africa and his wife had both apparently contracted the variant.
The traveller landed at Guarulhos international airport on 23 November with a negative test for Covid-19. But before a planned return trip, the couple tested positive and the samples were sent for further analysis, which identified the Omicron variant.
The samples will be sent for a second confirmatory analysis, the regulator said.
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Slovenia halted use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after experts confirmed a death in September was related to an extremely rare blood-clotting condition.
The country’s health minister, Janez Poklukar, told reporters the temporary ban implemented in September would become permanent. A 20-year-old woman died in September after a rare brain haemorrhage and blood clots after vaccination.
With more than 16 million Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine doses being administrated in the European Union until the end of October, six deaths linked to the jab have been confirmed, according to the Slovenian authorities.
In April the US lifted an 11-day pause to Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying the risk was “very low”. “The vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older,” the FDA and CDC said.
Slovenia has vaccinated 54% of its population, lagging behind the EU-wide rate of 68%. The country of 2.1 million people experienced record Covid infections above 3,000 a day this month, but new cases have since fallen from the mid-November peak.
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Russia reported 1,229 Covid-related deaths on Tuesday, according to figures from the Moscow Times, up from 1,207 reported deaths on Tuesday last week.
Russia also detected 32,648 new Covid infections on Tuesday, the lowest since 15 October. Russia’s latest wave peaked in early November, when the country was reporting record totals sometimes above 40,00 cases a day.
Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor consumer and health watchdog, said on Tuesday that Russians flying into the country from some locations must quarantine for 14 days, and New Year’s Eve travel was discouraged.
The validity of health passes obtained by a negative PCR test, she said, will also be reduced from 72 to 48 hours, as part of a package of measures designed to block the Omicron strain from gaining a foothold.
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Poland records highest Covid deaths since April
Poland reported the highest daily Covid death toll since April, with 526 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to figures reported by Polskie Radio.
That’s the highest since 540 people died on 29 April, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The country detected 19,074 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, taking Poland’s seven-day average to 23,191 new daily infections.
Poland’s Covid cases have rocketed since the start of October. Health minister Adam Niedzielski said last week the country’s fourth wave is expected to peak in early December, with up to 35,000 daily cases.
The Polish government banned flights from seven African countries this week to prevent the spread of the infectious Omicron variant. Alongside, cultural institutions such as churches, sports centres, hotels and restaurants across the country will only be allowed half-capacity between 1 and 17 December.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday warned Americans against travel to Poland over Covid concerns.
This is Jem Bartholomew taking over the global Covid blog from Lucy Campbell from here.
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The Greek prime minister’s decision to impose 100-euro monthly fines on unvaccinated over-60s appears to have had a dramatic effect; within hours of Kyriakos Mitsotakis announcing the measure about 6,000 people in the age group had requested appointments to get the jab.
The average inoculation rate among the over-60s had previously been 2,600 a day, according to media reports citing government statistics for those requesting a first jab. Penalties kick in from 16 January.
Infection rates in Greece have surged in recent months – along with fatalities.
Mitsotakis said he took the drastic step because it had become quite clear there were “needless deaths” among citizens in the age group.
An estimated 580,000 Greeks who are 60 or older remain unvaccinated. Of that number only 60,000 had elected to be inoculated in November when the government announced further restrictions for those still resisting the shot, Mitsotakis said in comments ahead of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
“And it is primarily those over the age of 60 who are being hospitalised and unfortunately many are losing their lives,” he noted in a televised speech. “It has troubled me taking this decision but I have no doubt that it will help save human lives.”
Compared with other smaller European countries, such as Portugal and Denmark which has immunised 99% of the age group, Greece has seen a death rate that is 10 times greater. Out of a population of about 11 million, 18,157 people have succumbed to coronavirus.
Prior to the fine being announced the centre-right government had enforced twice-weekly rapid tests on those who remained unvaccinated at a cost of as much as 80 euro a month. For many Greeks that, combined with a 100 euro monthly penalty, would have made the price for the choice almost impossible to keep up with.
Mitsotakis also announced that free self-tests would be distributed in December and early January in a bid to root out asymptomatic carriers of the virus. The money raised from fines will be placed in a special fund created to support the increasingly stretched public health service, he said.
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Spain detected a second case of the Omicron variant on Tuesday and expects to confirm another two by the end of the week, while Basque authorities said they planned to declare a health emergency amid a rapidly rising caseload, Reuters reports.
In Madrid, a 61-year-old woman who returned to Spain from South Africa via Amsterdam tested positive for the variant, which scientists fear may evade vaccines.
A regional health department spokesperson said she had received two shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine and had no symptoms.
Spain detected its first case of the variant on Monday in a 51-year-old man who also flew from South Africa via the Netherlands, but was on a different flight.
Health authorities in Catalonia said they were analysing two suspected cases and preliminary results suggested they would also be confirmed as Omicron but definitive confirmation was not expected until Friday.
With a nationwide vaccination rate of nearly 80%, Spain had until recently appeared to have escaped the wave of contagion sweeping Europe that has pushed governments to bring back highly restrictive measures, such as in Austria.
But infection accelerated through November, with the two-week incidence reaching 208.5 cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday, rising more than fourfold in a month.
With an infection rate of more than 480 cases per 100,000 people, the Basque region is among the worst affected.
The regional government said it would propose a health emergency, a legal tool that would allow for capacity limits in indoor spaces and the closure of nightlife.
Basque authorities also said they would ask the central government to bring back mandatory face masks outdoors, a requirement that Spain dropped in June.
Updated
Germany’s chancellor-to-be, Olaf Scholz, supports making vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory, German media have reported, as neighbouring Austria is debating how to enforce obligatory jabs from February.
Scholz, a Social Democrat, who is expected to be sworn in as Angela Merkel’s successor in the coming week, reportedly told a meeting of regional leaders he was in favour of a cross-party initiative to make vaccines mandatory, as well as requiring customers at non-essential stores to show proof of vaccination or recovery from the virus.
“As a delegate I would certainly vote in favour, to make that very clear,” Der Spiegel reported Scholz as saying. The outgoing finance minister proposed a general vaccine mandate coming into effect from the end of February, by which everyone should have had a theoretical chance to receive two doses of vaccine of their own accord.
Meanwhile, Germany’s southern neighbour Austria announced it is pushing ahead with plans to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory among its wider population from February, after consulting scientists and legal experts.
“We didn’t want a vaccine mandate, let me make that explicit,” said the minister for EU and constitutional affairs, Karoline Edtstadler. “But 20 months on from the start of the pandemic we are in a situation that is dramatic if you look at intensive care units at hospitals.”
Only a general vaccine mandate would get the country closer to its goal of avoiding a fifth or sixth wave of the virus, said Edtstadler, of the conservative Austrian People’s party.
Austria is halfway through a 20-day lockdown, its fourth of the pandemic, after experiencing one of the steepest surges in cases in Europe. The chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, announced on 19 November that his government would prepare the ground for vaccination against Covid-19 to become mandatory from 1 February, which would make it the first country in the west to take such a step.
Read the full story here:
Updated
The discovery of a new and potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant has concerned governments and unnerved markets around the world. Omicron has prompted the return of border closures and mandatory testing and mask wearing as countries attempt to slow its spread.
The number of mutations on its spike protein – the part of the virus vaccines use to prime the immune system – has concerned scientists, but it will take weeks to determine the extent of the threat Omicron poses. The Guardian’s science correspondent Linda Geddes explains:
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Summary
Here is a recap of some of the main developments from today so far:
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Israel’s health minister has suggested that individuals fully vaccinated against Covid – and within six months of a booster – may also be protected against the Omicron variant. Without citing any data, Nitzan Horowitz told local reporters: “In the coming days we will have more accurate information about the efficacy of the vaccine against Omicron – but there is already room for optimism, and there are initial indications that those who are vaccinated with a vaccine still valid or with a booster, will also be protected from this variant.” The remarks come amid conflicting information about how effective various vaccines and therapies are likely to be against the new variant.
- All eligible adults in the UK should be offered a Covid booster jab by the end of January as ministers race to increase protection against the Omicron variant, Boris Johnson announced. Shortly before the prime minister’s press conference began, the UK Health Security Agency announced that a further eight cases of the Omicron variant had been discovered in England, bringing the UK total to 22. More here.
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Johnson also said he does not want people to cancel Christmas parties or school nativity plays because of concerns about Omicron. His remarks were markedly at odds with cautionary advice from Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UKHSA, who urged everyone in the UK to cut down their social contact as fears grow that existing vaccines will prove less effective against Omicron. More here.
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All nine cases of the Omicron variant in Scotland trace back to a “single private event” held on 20 November, Nicola Sturgeon told the Holyrood parliament in her weekly Covid update. The first minister told MSPs that all nine were tested on or around 23 November and that none had so far required hospital care, nor had they any recent travel history to the countries in southern Africa where the variant was originally detected. Story here.
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The UK recorded another 39,716 cases of Covid on Tuesday and a further 159 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
- The US Food & Drug Administration said it was evaluating the effectiveness of authorised Covid vaccines against the Omicron variant and expects to have more information in the next few weeks. The agency is currently evaluating the vaccines to see if and how well they work against the variant, acting commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement. She said if the review shows a modification to the current vaccines is needed, the agency and companies will work together to develop and test such a modification quickly.
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France registered about 47,000 new confirmed Covid cases over the past 24 hours, the highest one-day tally since 8 April at the height of the third wave of the pandemic. During the third wave in the spring, the seven-day average briefly rose above 42,000. On 8 April, France recorded nearly 85,000 infections. Authorities say the vast majority of patients now in hospital with coronavirus have not been vaccinated.
- All travellers, regardless of vaccination status, entering Ireland will have to show negative Covid tests, as part of efforts to slow the potential spread of the Omicron variant. Passengers will have to produce either a negative antigen test taken up to 48 hours before arrival or a PCR test taken up to 72 hours before entry. In either case, the test must be professionally administered. The new rules will apply to those who are double vaccinated or those recently recovered from Covid. Non-vaccinated travellers are already required to have a negative PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival into the country. The housing minister, Darragh O’Brien, said the new measures will initially apply for two weeks.
Updated
The UK recorded another 39,716 cases of Covid on Tuesday and a further 159 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
That compares to 42,583 infections and 35 fatalities reported in the 24 hours prior.
Updated
Boosters may protect against Omicron, says Israel's health minister
Israel’s health minister has suggested that individuals fully vaccinated against Covid – and within six months of a booster – may also be protected against the Omicron variant.
Nitzan Horowitz was speaking on Tuesday after another two cases of individuals infected with the variant were identified in Israel bringing the country’s total to four.
Without citing any data, Horowitz told local reporters:
In the coming days we will have more accurate information about the efficacy of the vaccine against Omicron - but there is already room for optimism, and there are initial indications that those who are vaccinated with a vaccine still valid or with a booster, will also be protected from this variant.
Horowitz’s comments came after Israel head of Public Health Services, Dr Sharon Alroy-Preis, said that the first data about the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines against the Omicron would be available during the course of the day.
Horowitz’s remarks come amid conflicting information about how effective various vaccines and therapies are likely to be against the new variant. Earlier on Tuesday the German pharmaceutical company Merck said it expected its Covid-19 drug to be effective in treating the variant.
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Boris Johnson has said a fresh lockdown was unlikely amid concern over the new Omicron coronavirus variant after eight new cases were identified in England, taking the total number to 13.
The Omicron coronavirus variant is raising concern worldwide given the number of mutations, which might help it spread or even evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination.
“I think another lockdown of the kind that we’ve had before is extremely unlikely,” Johnson told a media conference. “But we keep everything under constant review.”
More here:
The women’s World Cup qualifier between the Czech Republic and Belarus was postponed on Tuesday due to three positive Covid tests among the visiting team, a Czech FA spokesman said.
The Czechs, who sit in third place in Group C behind the Netherlands and Iceland, were supposed to play the Belarusians, fourth in the group, at 5pm.
“The visitors tested negative before they arrived, but then another round of tests was done, in line with the regulations, and three tests came back positive,” Michal Jurman said.
“We don’t know whether the game could be played on Wednesday, or we will have to wait for the next qualification window,” he said.
All adults to be offered booster jab by end of January, Johnson says
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said he wants to offer all adults a Covid-19 booster shot by the end of January, because of concern about the spread of the Omicron variant.
“The target that we have set ourselves is to offer a booster to everyone eligible by the end of January,” he told a press conference on Tuesday. “As with the first jabs, we will be working through people by age group.”
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering the briefing here:
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US agency evaluating effectiveness of vaccines against Omicron
The US Food & Drug Administration said on Tuesday it was evaluating the effectiveness of authorised Covid vaccines against the Omicron variant and expects to have more information in the next few weeks.
The agency is currently evaluating the vaccines to see if and how well they work against the variant, acting commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
She said if the review shows a modification to the current vaccines is needed, the agency and companies will work together to develop and test such a modification quickly.
The new variant has sparked worries around the world that it could resist vaccinations and prolong the nearly two-year-old pandemic.
The US health regulatory agency maintained that the authorised vaccines remain highly effective at preventing Covid-19 and serious clinical outcomes associated with the infection and urged people to get vaccinated.
The FDA is also evaluating the potential impact of the variant on the currently available diagnostics and therapeutics.
It said a preliminary review showed that high volume PCR and antigen tests, widely used in the United States, have low likelihood of being impacted by Omicron.
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A further eight cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in England, taking the total number to 13, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency said on Tuesday.
“The individuals that have tested positive and their contacts are all isolating. Work is underway to identify any links to travel to southern Africa,” UKHSA said.
The cases in England are in addition to nine cases found in Scotland, UKHSA said.
As England’s total number of Omicron cases rises to 13, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is due to give a press conference shortly at 4pm. You can follow live updates from that briefing over on our UK Covid live blog:
People travelling to Russia from countries with high risk of the Omicron variant will have to quarantine for two weeks, Anna Popova, the head of the consumer watchdog, said on Tuesday. Russia has not recorded cases of the Omicron variant on its territory as yet, she added.
France has registered about 47,000 new confirmed Covid cases over the past 24 hours, the health minister Olivier Veran told lawmakers on Tuesday, the highest one-day tally since 8 April at the height of the third wave of the pandemic.
The latest data will push the cumulative total of cases in France since the start of the pandemic to 7.67 million and the seven-day moving average of new infections well over 32,000, Reuters reports.
During the third wave in the spring, the seven-day average briefly rose above 42,000. On 8 April, France recorded nearly 85,000 infections.
Authorities say the vast majority of patients with coronavirus now in hospital have not been vaccinated. About 75% of the French population has now been fully vaccinated.
On Monday, France registered its biggest jump in Covid hospital admissions since the spring, with the number of patients in hospital with the virus up by 470 to 9,860 and the number of patients in intensive care up by 117 to 1,749 people.
Updated figures for Tuesday will be released after 6pm.
Scotland Omicron cases all linked to single event, Sturgeon says
The nine cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Scotland were all linked to the same private event, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
“All nine cases are linked. They all trace back to a single private event on the 20th of November,” Sturgeon told the Scottish parliament, adding that none of the people who had tested positive for the variant had required hospital treatment.
“We fully expect that there will be more cases identified over the coming days that are also linked to this event... however, the fact that all known cases are so far linked to this single event suggests that community transmission may still be limited,” the first minister added.
There are now 14 confirmed cases of the new Omicron variant in the UK, nine of which have been identified in Scotland.
More on this story from my colleague Libby Brooks here:
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The Dutch healthcare system scrambled to add intensive care beds for patients with Covid as the country registered a record weekly number of new infections on Tuesday.
Although hospitals remain under extreme stress, scrapping routine procedures and planned care, the weekly infection figures reported by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) did show signs of stabilisation, rising just 1% from the week before to 155,152.
The impact of new lockdown measures ordered by the prime minister Mark Rutte’s government on Friday are not yet reflected in the weekly numbers, as they only went into effect on Sunday.
The new measures include the closure of bars, restaurants and most stores from 5pm to 5am, as well as work-from-home instructions and mask-wearing in secondary schools.
Overall, there were fewer than 100 unoccupied intensive care beds in the Netherlands on Tuesday, with 595 taken by patients with coronavirus and another 500 by patients with other illnesses.
With ICU admissions running at more than 40 per day over the past week, hospitals are trying to restore the peak capacity of 1,350 ICU beds achieved during the initial Covid wave in April 2020.
A third of hospitals in the country have stopped offering care that can be planned in advance and almost a third have said they cannot always perform even critical surgeries that can be planned in advance, the Netherlands’ Care Authority (NZa) said on Tuesday, including some cancer and heart surgeries.
All travellers entering Ireland will have to show negative Covid tests
Negative antigen or PCR covid tests will be required for all travellers - regardless of vaccination status - entering Ireland from Friday including those arriving from Great Britain, to slow the potential spread of the Omicron variant.
Passengers will have to produce either a negative antigen test taken up to 48 hours before arrival or a PCR test taken up to 72 hours before entry. In either case, the test must be professionally administered.
The new rules will apply to those who are double vaccinated or those recently recovered from Covid. Non-vaccinated travellers are already required to have a negative PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival into the country.
The housing minister Darragh O’Brien said the new measures will initially apply for two weeks.
Reuters reports that Ireland is studying 11 suspected Omicron cases after initial tests showed they had a trait distinct from the dominant Delta variant. The health minister, Stephen Donnelly, said it is likely the new variant is present in the country.
The restrictions will mean financial setback for Irish diaspora planning to return home for Christmas, with an additional £150 for a family of five.
It also means the common travel area is restriction-free in one direction only.
The UK government announced on Sunday that PCR tests required for entry into Great Britain do not apply to people arriving from the island of Ireland, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
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Denmark has registered a total of four cases of the Omicron variant, its infectious disease authority said on Tuesday.
All of the cases were connected to “travel activity” in South Africa, authorities said.
Denmark said on Sunday it had registered its first two cases of the variant.
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Two new cases of the Omicron variant has been detected in Sweden, the Public Health Agency said on Tuesday.
The cases were detected in tests taken less than a week ago from two persons who had travelled from South Africa, the agency said in a statement.
Sweden’s first confirmed case was detected on Monday.
In this instalment of the Guardian’s Lost to the virus series, Sirin Kale tells the story of the life and tragic death of John Eyers, a fitness fanatic who did triathlons, body building and mountain climbing, and became sceptical of the Covid vaccine. He contracted coronavirus at the age of 42.
As new cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are uncovered across the globe and threaten to spread in America, US officials are reacting by urging vaccinations and boosters instead of imposing restrictions which have increasingly provoked political fights.
But the US should quickly invest in other tools as well, experts said, including testing, genomic sequencing and surveillance, better communication, and a strong focus on global vaccine equity to prevent the emergence of new variants.
All of that would prepare America better to deal with a variant that many experts suspect is probably already inside the country, even if undetected so far.
“Testing is the number-one thing that we really need to be on top of right now,” Katelyn Jetelina, assistant professor of epidemiology with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, told the Guardian.
PCR tests are very effective at identifying a key feature of this variant, known as an S-gene dropout, before full genomic sequencing takes place. And making all types of testing, including rapid tests at home, easy and accessible would help curtail the spread of Omicron and other variants, including the current Delta wave.
“We’re ignoring what we were seeing in the UK and northern Europe and Germany, and ignoring what we saw in Michigan and Minnesota,” Larry Brilliant, CEO of Pandefense Advisory and senior counselor to the Skoll Foundation, told the Guardian. “That was a mistake. It was obvious that surge would come to the whole country.”
Read more of Melody Schreiber’s report here: Testing, vaccines, sequencing – US experts call for multi-pronged approach to Omicron
The coronavirus epidemic in Denmark is showing signs of stabilising, the country’s health minister said on Tuesday, citing vaccinations and third jabs as possible causes.
“The reproduction number is calculated to 1. Other key figures such as incidence, positivity rate, etc. suggest that infection growth is slowing and that we have a more stable epidemic,” health minister Magnus Heunicke said on Twitter.
Kontakttallet er beregnet til 1. Andre nøgletal som incidens, positivprocent mv. tyder på, at væksten er aftagende, og at vi har en mere stabil epidemi. Kan bl.a. være pga. immunitet fra vaccinationer og revaccinationer, hvor 1 ud af 7 af 12+ årige nu har fået 3. stik #COVID19dk pic.twitter.com/gNGayAgUzU
— Magnus Heunicke (@Heunicke) November 30, 2021
The reproduction number is a measure of how many people on average one infected person transmits the virus to. A value of one means the epidemic is neither accelerating nor slowing.
“[It] could among other things be due to immunity from vaccinations and revaccinations, as one in seven 12+ year olds has now received a 3rd shot.”
More than 75% of the population has been vaccinated in the Nordic country, with 13.5% receiving a booster shot.
Denmark has recorded record levels of more than 4,000 daily Covid infections in recent weeks from a low of around 200 in mid-September, but the country has so far avoided imposing tough lockdown restrictions.
Several Chinese border cities are halting some non-container commodity imports by rail to reduce the risk of Covid clusters brought in from other countries amid a resurgence of infections in northern areas of China.
China’s efforts to keep the virus out face increasing pressure as infections grow globally with the new threat of the Omicron variant, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, said on Tuesday.
The city of Manzhouli in the northern region of Inner Mongolia said from Wednesday it would suspend taking some non-containerised rail cargo arriving from abroad that requires manual loading and unloading, including coal and fertiliser.
The measure comes as Inner Mongolia reported a total of 41 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Sunday and Monday. More than half of the cases were found in Manzhouli.
The outbreak is much smaller than many outside China, but Beijing has taken a zero-tolerance approach to clusters, with cities quickly imposing travel restrictions and closing public venues.
Gene sequencing results on samples from a few Manzhouli infections indicated that the latest flare-up was caused by a virus source from overseas unrelated to previous outbreaks elsewhere in China, an official said on Tuesday.
Erenhot, a key transit hub in Inner Mongolia next to Mongolia itself, halted some non-containerised imports by rail that need to be handled by hand, according to a local government statement.
These included certain cargos for coal, oil, copper ore, zinc and iron ore. Erenhot did not report any new local infections over the weekend.
Suifenhe, in northeastern Heilongjiang province on the border with Russia, on Tuesday halted some non-containerised imports, such as coal and fertiliser.
Heilongjiang detected one domestically transmitted asymptomatic carrier on Sunday in a different city.
The three cities did not say when the restrictions might be lifted.
Authorities in China, where the virus was first identified in late 2019, vowed this month to step up virus control in border areas, demanding strict implementation of prevention measures on imported cargo.
The northeastern cities of Hunchun and Dongning, both along the border with Russia, in mid-November suspended some non-essential imports by highway, such as wine, milk and chocolate.
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday prior analyses suggested its Covid-19 antibody cocktail, and similar drugs, could have reduced activity against the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The drugmaker said analysis shows the individual mutations present in the Omicron variant indicate “that there may be reduced neutralization activity of both vaccine-induced and monoclonal antibody conveyed immunity”.
Regeneron’s shares fell 2.2% to $639.95 before the bell, Reuters reports.
Further analyses are ongoing to confirm and quantify this potential impact using the actual Omicron variant sequence, Regeneron said, adding that there was no direct data yet on whether the antibodies or vaccines confer less protection.
The comments follow Moderna Inc’s chief executive officer, who said Covid vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant as they have been previously.
Stéphane Bancel told the Financial Times: “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to … are like ‘this is not going to be good’.”
Bancel had earlier said on CNBC that there should be greater clarity on the efficacy of vaccines against Omicron in about two weeks’ time, and that it could take months to begin shipping a vaccine that would work against it.
The comments set off fresh alarm bells in financial markets on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization and scientists have also said it could take weeks to understand whether Omicron is likely to cause severe illness or escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines.
Vaccine makers are already preparing for a situation where their current vaccines are less effective against the new variant, with several companies announcing on Monday that they had begun work on vaccines tailored for Omicron.
Related: Moderna boss predicts current vaccines may be less effective against Omicron
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This week’s episode of the Science Weekly podcast explores the question on everyone’s lips at the moment: How worried should we be about the Omicron variant?
Last week, the new variant was detected by scientists in South Africa. Since then, additional cases have been reported beyond southern Africa, including Belgium, Canada, Israel, Australia and the UK. And with the WHO warning that the Omicron variant poses a very high global risk, scientists around the world are scrambling to uncover clues about its transmissibility and how effective the current coronavirus vaccines will be against it.
To find out what we do know about Omicron and what it could mean for the coming weeks and months, Madeleine Finlay spoke to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample. You can listen to the episode here:
Brits cautioned against festive social events amid Omicron fears
Christmas parties and other festive social events should not go ahead if they are not necessary and working from home could be key in order to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant, one of the UK’s most senior health officials has suggested.
Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, urged everyone in the UK to cut down their social contact – even if only by a little – as fears grow that existing vaccines will prove less effective against Omicron than against other variants.
“Of course our behaviours in winter – and particularly around Christmas – we tend to socialise more, so I think all of those will need to be taken into account,” Harries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The former chief medical officer for England added: “So I think being careful, not socialising when we don’t particularly need to and particularly going and getting those booster jabs” would be important.
She said that, even if vaccine effectiveness was reduced, booster jabs caused protection to “shoot up” and remained, therefore, a useful step.
Harries said the advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had “shown that, if we have significant surges in Covid cases, then actually working from home is one of the key ones to implement”.
She said the number of Omicron cases identified in England remained low, adding: “So it’s a very early stage for this, I think, but certainly, if we see surges, then working from home will be a good thing to do.”
Three more cases of the new variant were identified in Scotland on Tuesday, taking the UK’s total so far to 14.
Harries spoke after the chief executive of the drugmaker Moderna said existing vaccines were unlikely to be as effective against Omicron as they had been against the Delta variant.
There are growing fears that the new variant will plunge the world deeper into crisis and force the reintroduction of more restrictive curbs on people’s lives. In the UK, that has prompted particular concerns of Christmas plans being curtailed again.
The government has touted a “plan B” for the winter, which includes tougher measures ministers have so far refused to enact; preferring limited restrictions and a drive to encourage take-up of booster jabs. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, is due to lead a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday as part of that effort.
Get the full story here:
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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_
Today so far
- Greece has said it will fine people over the age of 60 who have not received a first Covid-19 shot €100 per month from 16 January, as the country grappled with a surge in coronavirus cases.
- Germany’s constitutional court has ruled that sweeping restrictions to stem coronavirus infections such as curfews, school closures and contact restrictions were lawful, in a decision that could pave the way for further curbs.
- Germany reported a further 45,753 new coronavirus cases and 388 deaths today, but the seven-day incidence of cases per 100,000 people fell slightly for the first time in three weeks. The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported that 452.2 people per 100,000 were infected in the last week, down from 452.4 on Monday and the first fall since early November.
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France’s Haute Autorite de Sante health regulator has backed vaccinating children aged five to 11 against Covid-19 if they were at risk of developing a serious form of the disease, or if they lived with vulnerable people.
- One person has tested positive for the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion, and six of his contacts are being tested. That makes it the first confirmed French case.
- The chief executive of the US drugmaker Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be less effective against Omicron than they have been against the Delta version, sending global stock markets sharply lower.
- In England face coverings become compulsory on public transport and in shops from today. That brings it in line with the rest of the UK. But unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, people in England do not have to wear masks in pubs and restaurants.
- The UK is set to ramp up booster vaccinations and will halve the minimum gap between jabs to three months, aiming to administer 500,000 jabs a day.
- Scotland’s health secretary, Humza Yousaf, has said the vaccination booster programme will be accelerated in the country, but that workforce issues will be the “biggest constraining factor”. Nine cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have now been identified in Scotland.
- Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that people could do their bit by reducing the number of social contacts they have. She said even if our “vaccines appear to be effective, but we find that the variant is more highly transmissible, having lowish grade infection, but in very large numbers of the population, it could still be a significant impact on our hospitals.
- The Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from South Africa carrying the virus, Dutch health officials said. “We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on 19 November and 23 November,” the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said. “It is not clear yet whether these people have visited Southern Africa.”
- Japan has confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant. A Namibian diplomat in his 30s is thought to have tested positive for the variant at Narita airport near Tokyo upon his arrival on Sunday
- People in Norway should wear face masks in public transport and other crowded places amid a surge in coronavirus infections, prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said this morning.
- EasyJet said near-term bookings had weakened since the new Omicron variant was identified amid concerns over travel restrictions, but it still expects passenger numbers to return to close to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the summer.
- Hong Kong will ban non-resident arrivals from 13 more countries
- Global vaccine-sharing network Covax has set aside 4.73m doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for shipment to North Korea. North Korea and Eritrea are the only countries that have yet to start their vaccination campaign against Covid, according to the World Health Organization.
- India stands ready to “expeditiously” send more Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa to help fight the Omicron variant, New Delhi said in a statement.
- China also pledged to donate 600m vaccine doses to Africa while working to encourage Chinese companies to invest $10bn in the continent over the next three years.
- The Omicron variant is the subject of our Science Weekly podcast this week. To find out what we do know about Omicron and what it could mean for the coming weeks and months, Madeleine Finlay spoke to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample. You can listen to it here.
Andrew Sparrow has our UK politics and Covid live blog. Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to continue bringing you the latest coronavirus developments from around the globe.
Updated
Omicron variant was already in Netherlands prior to flights known to have carried cases
The Covid-19 Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from South Africa carrying the virus, Dutch health officials said this morning.
“We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on 19 November and 23 November,” the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said. “It is not clear yet whether these people have visited Southern Africa.”
Reuters report that at least 14 people on two flights from Johannesburg and Capetown arrived in the Netherlands on 29 November carried the new variant, the RIVM said.
There’s more detail from Reuters here on that move in Greece to begin imposing fines on people who have not been vaccinated.
“We are focusing our efforts on protection of our fellow citizens and for this reason their vaccination will be mandatory from now on,” Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting.
“Greeks over the age of 60 who have not been vaccinated must, by 16 January, booked an appointment for their first dose, or else they will face a €100 administrative fine every month.”
Greece has recorded a rise in infections this month, with daily cases hitting record highs. The country this month barred unvaccinated people from indoor spaces including restaurants, cinemas, museums and gyms, even if they had tested negative for the coronavirus.
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Moderna boss predicts current vaccines may be less effective against Omicron
The chief executive of the US drugmaker Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be less effective against Omicron than they have been against the Delta version, sending global stock markets sharply lower.
Stéphane Bancel said while it would take two weeks to get data on how the existing vaccines perform against the new Covid variant – and whether it causes severe disease – it will take several months to tweak the current vaccines to tackle Omicron.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with [the] Delta [variant],” Bancel told the Financial Times.
He suggested that pharma companies would struggle between targeting Omicron and the existing Covid variants, warning it would be risky to shift Moderna’s entire production capacity to an Omicron-specific jab.
In the meantime, Bancel suggested there might be a case for giving more potent boosters to the elderly or people with compromised immune systems.
Read more of Julia Kollewe and Graeme Wearden’s report here: Moderna boss predicts current vaccines may be less effective against Omicron
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Greece to fine people over 60 who are unvaccinated
Greece has said it will fine people over the age of 60 who have not received a first Covid-19 shot, as the country grappled with a surge in coronavirus cases.
Reuters reports authorities said they would impose a €100 fine on every individual over the age of 60 who was not vaccinated.
The measure will apply each month from 16 January.
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French health regulator backs vaccinations for vulnerable children aged five to 11
France’s Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) health regulator has backed vaccinating children aged five to 11 against Covid-19 if they were at risk of developing a serious form of the disease, or if they lived with vulnerable people.
Reuters remind us that last week, the European Union’s drug regulator approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for children between five and 11, paving the way for them to be given first shots.
Updated
Andrew Sparrow has launched his live blog for the day, and that will be where you will be able to find UK Covid news.
I’ll be continuing here with global coronavirus developments.
Norwegians should wear face masks in public transport and other crowded places amid a surge in coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said this morning.
The centre-left minority government said it would seek to limit any potential spread of the Omicron variant, including by imposing longer isolation on those found to have been infected with it.
Stoere also urged municipalities to accelerate a drive to give booster shots to all adults. “Vaccination is key to our Covid-19 strategy,” Støre told parliament. “We can avoid a lockdown,” he added.
Reuters reports that Norway in September ended all domestic coronavirus restrictions, but opposition parties in recent days called on the government to take action to prevent the spread of virus and thus avoid another lockdown.
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London mayor Sadiq Khan said mask-wearing on public transport in the capital has fallen because the police no longer have the powers to enforce it.
PA Media reports he told Times Radio: “One of the reasons why wearing a face mask is so important is because one out of three people who have this virus may not realise that they’ve got it.
“You could be sitting next to somebody who is immunity-suppressed, who is vulnerable, who has been shielding, and you could inadvertently pass this deadly virus on to them.
“Before 19 July, when we were able to use the British Transport Police and the Met police service to enforce this, and also have the ability to issue fines – the compliance rates were far higher.”
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Germany’s constitutional court rules Covid restrictions were lawful
Germany’s constitutional court has ruled that sweeping restrictions to stem coronavirus infections such as curfews, school closures and contact restrictions were lawful, in a decision that could pave the way for further curbs.
The verdict came hours before chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet with her successor, Olaf Scholz, as well as regional leaders of Germany’s 16 states on whether to toughen up restrictions.
Helge Braun, Merkel’s chief of staff, told the RTL broadcaster the court decision would show “which of two paths we should go down”.
Agence France-Presse report that Germany’s vice-chancellor-in-waiting Robert Habeck this morning called for tougher restrictions to slow the spread of the disease.
“What has to happen is absolutely clear: contacts must be reduced,” the co-leader of the Green party said, also calling for unvaccinated people to be banned from “all public facilities” apart from essential shops.
“We will need new uniform measures to get through the winter,” Habeck said, also urging Germany’s federal states to apply the “range of options” they already have, such as cancelling Christmas markets.
“This is then - it must be said so harshly - a lockdown for the unvaccinated,” he said.
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Doctors and trade unions in the UK have joined forces with families bereaved by Covid to highlight issues ranging from border controls to the supply of face masks that they want addressed by next year’s public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic.
The British Medical Association, Trades Union Congress, the Independent Sage group of scientists and human rights campaigners are presenting a united front with Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice to increase pressure on Downing Street to step up preparations for the inquiry.
In spite of rising concern about the new Omicron variant found in parts of the UK, they believe the inquiry, which is due to start next spring, remains essential to “save as many lives as possible going forward”.
“The fear of a vaccine-resistant variant is explicitly one of the reasons we’ve been calling for an immediate inquiry,” said Jo Goodman, co-founder of the bereavement group. “Can anyone disagree that we’d be in a better position to overcome the Omicron variant if we’d had an independent process for learning lessons from the first three waves?”
However, Boris Johnson has yet to announce a chair for the inquiry, after promising the bereaved he would do so by Christmas, or set out the terms of reference.
“The prime minister promised us that we’d be consulted on the scope of the inquiry that we campaigned for,” said Lobby Akinnola, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. “We’ve heard no details since.”
Read more of Robert Booth’s report here: Doctors and unions join bereaved families to highlight issues for Covid inquiry
The Omicron variant is the subject of our Science Weekly podcast this week. To find out what we do know about Omicron and what it could mean for the coming weeks and months, Madeleine Finlay spoke to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample. You can listen to it here.
Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said there is a current period “of great uncertainty” in understanding the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, but she did lay out the next steps she expected scientists to follow.
PA Media told BBC Breakfast the booster dose of vaccine will “we hope, to some extent, counter the potential drop in vaccine effectiveness we might find with this variant”.
Asked whether the UK will see a return to work from home guidance, she said: “The whole point about the booster programme and the introduction of mandatory face mask-wearing in enclosed public spaces is exactly to try and avoid that because we’ve made huge progress, we have great defences and, in the background, the dominant strain in the UK at the moment is very definitely Delta.
“So these vaccines will help that, it will keep serious infection, serious disease and hospitalisations at bay, but we do need this time to try and understand the new variant, and we would much prefer that we have that precautionary approach and then take appropriate actions.”
Asked what is needed for further measures to come in, she said experts will be looking at how the virus works and behaves, “and then, obviously, if it does start causing serious illness - and we have had no hospitalisations in the UK yet - then we’ll be looking at the characteristics of individuals who are admitted to hospital”.
EasyJet said near-term bookings had weakened since the new Omicron variant was identified amid concerns over travel restrictions, but it still expects passenger numbers to return to close to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the summer.
The airline reported a loss before tax of £1.1bn for the year to 30 September, wider than the £835m loss made in 2020, but the figure was better than analysts had expected.
Johan Lundgren, the chief executive, said that while “many uncertainties remain as we navigate the winter”, the airline expects to benefit from a bounce back.
“We’re seeing very strong demand into next summer” Lundgren said, “because there is very strong pent-up demand. We have more revenue for next summer than we had at this point in time for the summer of 2019.”
Commenting on demand since the new variant emerged, easyJet said: “It’s too soon to say what impact Omicron may have on European travel and any further short-term restrictions that may result.
Read more of Julia Kollewe’s report: EasyJet says Omicron variant already affecting bookings
France confirms Omicron case on Réunion
One person has tested positive for the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion and six of his contacts are being tested. That makes it the first confirmed French case.
Official researcher Dr Patrick Mavingui said the person was a 53-year old man who had travelled to Mozambique and made a stop-over in South Africa.
The patient, who returned to La Reunion some two weeks ago, is in isolation, Mavingui told local French media.
Reuters report French government spokesman Gabriel Attal Attal confirmed the case. “Six of his contacts have been put in isolation, three coming from his family circle and three from his professional circle,” he told Europe 1 radio.
Updated
Scotland's health secretary: workforce 'biggest constraining factor' to expanding booster jabs
Scotland’s health secretary, Humza Yousaf, has said the vaccination booster programme will be accelerated in the country, but that workforce issues will be the “biggest constraining factor”.
Lucinda Cameron reports for PA Scotland that booster vaccinations are being extended to all those aged 18 and over in Scotland in line with the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommendation, with the interval after the second dose cut from six to three months.
Yousaf told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “We have adequate supply including with the most recent JCVI advice but the biggest constraining factor is workforce, we’d have to go from a position of administering around about 500,000 flu and booster vaccines – don’t forget we’re also doing flu vaccines – a week to around about 700,000 a week, that is before yesterday’s advice came in.
“Now with yesterday’s advice we suspect there’s an additional at least 1m doses added to the eligibility criteria.”
He said authorities are working to ramp up the programme and “accelerate it as quickly as we possibly can”.
Yousaf said calls to reopen mass vaccination centres do not take account of the “challenges and complexities” of the vaccination programme, and authorities do not want to take NHS staff away from other important duties.
He told the programme: “The NHS is under significant pressure, what we don’t want to do is take people away from really core, important, significant duties and get them doing vaccinations.
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Covax planning first vaccine shipment to North Korea, which still claims zero cases
A quick snap from Reuters here that global vaccine-sharing network Covax has set aside 4.73m doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for shipment to North Korea, according to its allocation plan.
North Korea and Eritrea are the only countries that have yet to start their vaccination campaign against Covid, according to the World Health Organization.
North Korea has not officially confirmed any Covid cases, a figure widely considered to be unlikely. It has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.
UKHSA chief: decreasing social contacts will help 'keep the variant at bay'
Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people could do their bit by reducing the number of social contacts they have.
She said that even if our “vaccines appear to be effective, but we find that the variant is more highly transmissible, having lowish grade infection, but in very large numbers of the population, it could still be a significant impact on our hospitals.
“And of course, our behaviours in winter and particularly around Christmas we tend to socialise more so I think all of those will need to be taken into account.”
Asked about working from home, PA Media quotes her saying: “We’ve seen that not everybody has gone back to work and I’d like to think of it more in a general way, which is if we all decrease our social contacts a little bit, actually that helps to keep the variant at bay.
“So I think being careful, not socialising when we don’t particularly need to and particularly going and getting those booster jobs which, of course, people will now be able to have at a three-month interval from their primary course.”
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Germany's seven-day incidence of cases falls slightly for first time in three weeks
Germany reported a further 45,753 new coronavirus cases and 388 deaths today, but the seven-day incidence of cases per 100,000 people fell slightly for the first time in three weeks.
The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported that 452.2 people per 100,000 were infected in the last week, down from 452.4 on Monday and the first fall since early November.
Reuters note that the number of new cases was still 427 more than a week ago, but the pace of weekly increase has been flattening in the last few days.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, her designated successor Olaf Scholz and regional leaders are due to meet later today to discuss how to respond to the crisis, especially after cases of the new Omicron variant were detected in the country.
About 68% of the population of about 83 million is fully vaccinated, far behind the rates in southern European countries such as Portugal and Spain. Ten per cent of the population has received a booster shot.
Here’s an updated map of the latest caseload figures across Europe.
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The other constant questioning line to UK junior health minister Gillian Keegan this morning has been what impact Omicron will have on people’s Christmas plans.
I must confess to having some sympathy with the minister here, as, given the lack of confirmed scientific information about the variant, I don’t really see what answer she can realistically be expected to give.
Here’s what she told BBC Breakfast, when asked particularly how the clinically vulnerable should be preparing for the holiday season:
What we’re basically saying, you know, we’re being proportionate and balanced in our response, but continue with your Christmas plans. We don’t know, as Jonathan Van-Tam suggested yesterday, we don’t know an awful lot about the virus and about this variant. So we do need to wait for the information.
But you know, be cautious. I think people who are extremely physically vulnerable are very cautious anyway. They continue to wear masks, they continue to consider where they go and make sure that they have the right arrangements in place. Be sensible, do what you feel comfortable doing.
But we’re not telling people to not continue with their plans. We very much hope that we can continue with our Christmas plans. But of course, we were putting these measures in place now to build up our defence to it.
UK minister to British public: 'please be sensible, please wear your mask'
Junior health minister Gillian Keegan has been doing the media round in the UK today, and she’s been on BBC Breakfast now. A couple of points of interest from that, firstly on whether the onus is on retailers to enforce England’s new face covering rules, which come into force today. She said:
Well, it is actually the British public’s personal responsibility, to follow the rules, to wear the masks. Obviously shopkeepers have done an absolutely brilliant job of keeping our shelves supplied under very trying circumstances, and we thank them for their service and everything they do. And clearly there have been occasions where you know, that’s been confrontational. So you know, we have a lot of sympathy with that, but really, it’s for British public to please be sensible, please wear your mask. But it’s really the police who would enforce that.
She added:
Obviously, [retailers] will put signs up and ask people to respect the rules and obey the law and to wear a mask and you know, that’s reasonable. But really, it’s down to individuals. We’re all in this together. You know, it’s not for everybody to be carrying around being policed by shop assistants. Not at all. We all have to do the right thing.
Just a quick note that shortly we are expecting European medicines agency boss Emer Cooke to start giving evidence to a European parliament committee hearing. I’ll bring you any Covid lines of interest from that in due course.
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Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in the UK, has said that the country had to “act immediately and not wait” after the discovery of the Omicron variant. PA Media quotes his appearance on BBC Breakfast, saying:
I do think we need to take this seriously. It is a possibility that this will not turn out to be a major problem but there are lots of signs that suggest that it might. It looks like it’s quite a transmissible virus. We don’t really yet know whether it causes worse disease. It may well not do that.
But the main question is whether it’s able to evade the immunity that we’ve got to some extent from the vaccine so far and the infections we’ve all had. And so because of that, and because of the possibility of a major wave, the thing to do now is to act immediately and not wait.
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Politico’s London Playbook sets up what we can expect politically in the day ahead …
Boris Johnson will hold a press conference this afternoon where he will present the government’s plan to roll out coronavirus booster vaccines to all adults in the coming weeks. After Monday’s decision to expand the booster campaign, the question tens of millions of Britons are asking is when can they get their third jab – the prime minister will be giving details later on. From this morning you now have to wear a face mask in shops and on public transport [in England, this was already the case in the other nations of the UK], and isolate if NHS Test and Trace says you’ve been in contact with an Omicron case. New arrivals into the country have to stay at home until they’re cleared by a Day 2 test. Health Secretary Sajid Javid is speaking in the Commons ahead of today’s vote on the new measures, with a relatively minor Tory rebellion expected.
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Scotland identifies three more cases of Omicron variant, taking total to nine
Nine cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been identified in Scotland, the country’s health secretary, Humza Yousaf, has said.
Yousaf said there are five cases in the Lanarkshire area and four in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, up from the six identified across the two areas announced on Monday.
Asked on BBC Good Morning Scotland if there was any connection between Cop26 or a recent South Africa rugby match, PA Media reports he said: “There’s nothing that links these cases or indeed the variant back to Cop26 or indeed the rugby match.”
He added: “There’s nothing that indicates these cases or this new variant has come via the rugby or Cop26 but that work of course is still ongoing .”
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France’s minister for overseas territories left the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Monday night at an impasse over ways to end more than a week of violent protests sparked by Covid-19 restrictions.
Before departing for more talks in neighbouring Martinique, Sebastien Lecornu told reporters that the Guadeloupe negotiations had been deadlocked over the “obvious and indispensable” demand that the various unions condemn the violence.
Agence France-Presse reports that unrest in the former colonial outpost began with a protest over compulsory Covid-19 vaccinations for health workers, but quickly ballooned into a broader revolt over living conditions, and spread to next door Martinique. Both islands are now under curfew.
On his arrival in Guadeloupe on Sunday, Lecornu vowed to stand firm on the obligation for health workers and first responders to be vaccinated against Covid by 31 December or face suspension without pay. But he insisted he was open to dialogue on other issues.
The vaccine mandate for health workers, which was enforced in September on the mainland, has met with greater resistance in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where vaccine hesitancy is high.
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Gillian Keegan, the UK junior health minister, has said the government has the capacity to ramp up the rollout of booster jabs. She told Sky News on the issue of staffing:
Well, we’ve used in the past NHS staff, community nursing staff, pharmacies, the GPs, volunteers, retired doctors and nurses. We’ve used that pool of staff in the past. So I guess they’re going to be looking at which of those they need to bring back in. We do have the facilities and we do have the people and we do the vaccines. So they’ll just be putting the plan together to see what’s what’s going to make most sense.
The UK is aiming for 500,000 jabs a day in bid to outpace Omicron variant.
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UK junior health minister: 'I'd rather over-react than under-react' to Omicron variant
In the UK, junior health minister Gillian Keegan is doing the media round this morning, and her opening interview has been on Sky News, where she has said: “I’d rather over-react than under-react” to the Omnicron variant.
She said:
We’re trying to get a balance and proportion. And it is difficult because it’s unknown. So we need to have some time where the world’s leading scientists basically sort of figure out what. We know it’s very transmissible. We don’t know whether the vaccine works or the other treatments. So the scientists do need some time for that. We think we’ve got the balanced and proportional response to it, but we will review it in three weeks. That will give scientists enough time to help you give us some insights.
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New face mask rules come into force in England
Here’s a quick summary of the changes in Covid rules coming into effect in England today.
- In England face coverings will become compulsory on public transport, and also in shops. That brings it in line with the rest of the UK.
- But unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, people in England do not have to wear masks in pubs and restaurants.
- School staff and pupils in year seven and above are strongly advised to wear face masks in communal areas unless exempt
- Teachers and pupils in Wales or have been told they should wear face coverings in indoor settings.
- Educational and childcare settings should also continue to encourage staff and students to test twice weekly using a lateral flow device.
There are 10 countries on England’s travel red list. Travellers need a negative pre-departure Covid test, a PCR test two days after arrival, and will need to stay in an approved government hotel quarantine.
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Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London, taking over from my colleague Samantha Lock in Sydney. I suspect we will be in much of a news holding pattern for the next few days, with increasing case numbers and global spread of the Omicron variant dominating headlines, but no real scientific consensus emerging yet on whether it has the vaccine escape capability that is feared while the work is done to research that. I’ll be bringing you the latest news from the UK and around the world.
Japan confirms first case of Omicron variant
Japan has confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant, Kyodo news agency reports, citing unnamed government sources.
A Namibian diplomat in his 30s is thought to have tested positive for the variant at Narita airport near Tokyo upon his arrival on Sunday, the publication said.
Japan on Tuesday banned new foreign entries for at least one month in an attempt to stave off the new Omicron Covid variant.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida said during a press conference:
In order to avoid the worst situation, Japan will first prohibit the entry of foreigners from midnight on 30 November to the whole world as an emergency evacuation precautionary measure. For Japanese etc, in addition to nine countries such as South Africa, 14 countries where infection has been confirmed, and when returning from the region, we will implement strict quarantine measures at designated facilities according to the risk.
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Hi, I’m Samantha Lock with you to report all the latest Covid developments from across the world.
In case you missed it, here’s a round-up of all the day’s leading coronavirus news stories.
- Hong Kong will ban non-resident arrivals from 13 more countries in addition to South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Non-residents from Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia will also not be allowed to enter the global financial hub as of 30 November. Additionally, non-residents who have been to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Israel and Italy in the past 21 days will not be allowed to enter the city from 2 December.
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India stands ready to “expeditiously” send more Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa to help fight the Omicron variant, New Delhi said in a statement on Monday.
- India also reported a daily rise of 6,990 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest seen in the nation in 551 days, according to a ministry of health press release.
- China also pledged to donate 600m vaccine doses to Africa while working to encourage Chinese companies to invest $10bn in the continent over the next three years.
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China is battling a sudden cluster of cases in a Russian border city, after three workers in the Inner Mongolia city of Manzhouli were found to have Covid-19 during routine testing, prompting mass tests of the 300,000 city residents.
- The UK is set to ramp up booster vaccinations and will halve the minimum gap between jabs to three months, aiming to administer 500,000 jabs a day.
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Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and US president Joe Biden have both issued public appeals for vaccination.
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Canada has confirmed an additional two cases of the Omicron variant, bringing the nationwide tally to five cases.
- Ecuador joins the growing list of countries opting to restrict entry to passengers traveling from or via South Africa as well as other African countries.
- Germany reported a daily rise of 45,753 Covid cases and 388 deaths, the Robert Koch Institute reports.
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Stock markets in Asia bounced back again as investors’ concerns about the new Omicron Covid variant eased.
- Singapore’s health ministry said two travellers from Johannesburg who tested positive for the Omicron variant in Sydney had transited through Changi airport.
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India pledges to send Covid vaccines to Africa
India stands ready to “expeditiously” send more Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa to help fight the Omicron variant, New Delhi said late on Monday.
The announcement follows a promise made by China to donate 600m vaccine doses to Africa.
India said it had supplied more than 25 million doses of domestically made shots to 41 African countries, mostly through the global vaccine-distribution network COVAX.
The foreign ministry said in a statement:
The government of India stands ready to support the countries affected in Africa in dealing with the Omicron variant, including by supplies of Made-in-India vaccines. Supplies can be undertaken through Covax or bilaterally.
It said the government had cleared all orders placed by Covax for supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine to countries such as Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Guinea and Lesotho, apart from delivering doses of the home-grown Covaxin shot to Botswana. It did not say how many doses have been approved recently.
“Any new requirement projected either bilaterally or through COVAX will be considered expeditiously,” it said, also promising the supply of life-saving drugs, test kits, gloves, PPE kits and medical equipment such as ventilators as required.
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The chief executive of Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be much less effective at tackling Omicron than earlier strains of Covid-19, warning it would take months before pharmaceutical companies can manufacture new variant-specific jabs at scale.
Stéphane Bancel said the high number of Omicron mutations on the spike protein and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa, suggested the current crop of vaccines may need to be modified next year.
Bancel told the Financial Times:
There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level ... we had with Delta. I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to ... are like ‘this is not going to be good’.”
Bancel said scientists were worried because 32 of the 50 mutations in the Omicron variant are on the spike protein, which current vaccines focus on to boost the human body’s immune system to combat Covid-19.
Most experts thought such a highly mutated variant would not emerge for another one or two years, Bancel added.
Moderna and Pfizer are currently working on new vaccines to target the Omicron variant and data giving an indication of how the existing vaccines perform against the Omicron variant, and whether it causes severe disease, should become available within weeks.
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Despite reports of milder symptoms Omicron should not be underestimated, experts say.
Anecdotal reports out of South Africa suggest the new variant may cause only mild illness. But although previous variants of the coronavirus have been associated with different symptoms and severity, it would be dangerous to assume that Omicron is a viral pussy cat.
At a briefing convened by South Africa’s Department of Health on Monday, Unben Pillay, a GP practising in Midrand on the outskirts of Johannesburg, said that while “it is still early days” the cases he was seeing were typically mild: “We are seeing patients present with dry cough, fever, night sweats and a lot of body pains. Vaccinated people tend to do much better.”
Meanwhile, Pretoria-based GP Dr Angelique Coetzee said many of the patients she’d seen were presenting with unusual symptoms, particularly severe tiredness, and none were reporting loss of taste or smell.
Read the full story here.
The White House has honoured Covid frontline workers in an elaborate holiday decoration display.
The display was unveiled on Monday for US president Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s first White House Christmas.
Nurses, doctors, teachers, grocery store workers and others are recognised in a gigantic gingerbread White House, which was made into a 158kg gingerbread village with the addition of a school and police, fire and gas stations as well as a hospital, a post office, a grocery store and a warehouse to honour workers who stayed on the job.
Frontline workers are also represented in the iridescent doves and shooting stars that illuminate the East Colonnade hallway, “representing the peace and light brought to us by all the front-line workers and first responders during the pandemic,” the guidebook says.
China finds sudden outbreak in Russian border city
China is battling a sudden cluster of cases in a Russian border city, after three workers in the Inner Mongolia city of Manzhouli, were found to have Covid-19 during routine testing, prompting mass tests of the 300,000 city residents.
The national health commission reported 21 new locally transmitted cases on Monday, 20 of which were all in Manzhouli.
The mass detection has happened suddenly. Local media said two asymptomatic cases - which China classifies separately to confirmed cases - were detected on 27 November.
Contact tracing and further testing had identified another 27 by Monday. Several cargo yards have been closed as a result, and flights, trains, coaches, taxis and city buses have been suspended.
Schools have moved online, and hospitals have been limited to emergency care only.
Authorities have also imposed controls on city exits, temporarily closed markets and cultural, sports, leisure and entertainment establishments, and put limits on weddings, religious gatherings, and restaurants.
No confirmed cases had been reported from Inner Mongolia in more than two weeks, since the detection of four cases on 13 November, in Alxa League more than 2,300km to the south-west. Neighbouring province Heilongjiang this week suspended some rail freight imports to prevent potential transmission, local authorities said.
Additional reporting by Xiaoqian Zhu
India’s daily Covid-19 deaths rose by 190 on Monday, bringing the nationwide total death toll to 468,980, according to health ministry data.
There were 6,990 new Covid cases reported in the past 24 hours. The figure is the lowest seen in the nation in 551 days, according to a ministry of health press release.
India’s active caseload stands at 100,543 – the lowest in 546 days.
The nation has been steadily reporting lower daily rises over the past few weeks.
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Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and US president Joe Biden have both issued public appeals for vaccination.
Trudeau said in a tweet on Monday night local time:
Let’s be clear: getting vaccinated is the best thing you can do right now.
So if you don’t have your shots yet, get them. And now that we have enough vaccine doses for every kid between the ages of 5 and 11 to get their first shot, make sure you get your kids vaccinated too.
Biden issued a video call around the same time, saying:
If you are vaccinated but still worried about the new variant, get your booster. If you aren’t vaccinated, get that shot.
My simple message to folks worried about the Omicron variant: Get vaccinated.pic.twitter.com/O61tmKGEW6
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 30, 2021
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Ecuador joins the growing list of countries opting to restrict entry to passengers traveling from or via South Africa as well as other African countries.
The head of the World Health Organization in Africa earlier urged countries to keep borders open, saying banning flights over the potentially more transmissible Omicron strain “attacks global solidarity”.
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The latest Covid numbers from Germany are now in.
The country reported a daily rise of 45,753 Covid-19 cases and 388 deaths, the Robert Koch Institute reports.
Germany’s top health officials have previously raised the prospect of a national lockdown, warning that a rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases and a dramatic rise in the number of patients in intensive care meant contact reduction was the only way of tackling the crisis and avoiding “the road to chaos”.
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Stock markets in Asia have bounced back again as investors’ concerns about the new Omicron Covid variant eased. In Australia the ASX200 was up more than 1%, while in Japan the Nikkei was up 0.75%.
It followed a stronger showing on Monday on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.6% and the broader S&P500 was up 1.2% after some hefty losses on Friday, when news of the new strain shook confidence.
Despite the positive open on Tuesday, advisers say some investors are still cautious about the impact Omicron could have in disrupting trade, travel and economic activity.
James Rosenberg, a Sydney-based financial advisor at EL&C Baillieu, said:
There are so many unknowns about Omicron and the market has been jumping at shadows.
After such a strong run and with elevated valuations, the market will always be susceptible to the odd shakeout on news that could bring risk.
[CHART] ASX 200 sector moves after almost an hour of trade see Financials lead market higher. Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/dJPSXgiwmy
— CommSec (@CommSec) November 29, 2021
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Hong Kong bans non-resident arrivals from 13 more countries
Hong Kong has banned non-residents from entering the city from four African countries and plans to expand that to travellers who have been to Australia, Canada, Israel and six European countries in the past 21 days due to fears over Omicron.
The food and health secretary, Prof Sophia Chan, made the announcement at a press briefing.
She said:
Hong Kong’s very stringent system of boarding, quarantine and also testing requirements has successfully stopped the transmission of the three Omicron cases, that we have identified in our designated quarantine hotel, from going into the community.
To prevent the Omicron variant from entering the community, the health chief said, Hong Kong should implement the most stringent measures.
In addition to the eight southern African locations announced earlier, the government would also include all other overseas places that had detected Omicron cases in the list of group-A specified, or high-risk, places.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement late on Monday that non-residents from Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia would not be allowed to enter the global financial hub as of 30 November.
Residents could return if they were vaccinated but would have to quarantine for seven days in a government facility and another two weeks in a hotel at their own cost.
The statement said:
Non-Hong Kong residents from these four places will not be allowed to enter Hong Kong.
The most stringent quarantine requirements will also be implemented on relevant inbound travellers from these places.
Additionally, non-residents who have been to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Israel and Italy in the past 21 days would not be allowed to enter the city from 2 December.
Vaccinated residents returning from these countries would have to do three weeks of hotel quarantine.
Hong Kong last week banned non-Hong Kong residents arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
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Covid numbers for Malaysia have just come in.
Another 4,066 daily Covid-19 cases and 61 deaths have been reported for 29 November, according to ministry of health data.
A total of 79.1% of the population have received at least one Covid vaccine dose, while 77.7% are fully vaccinated.
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Australia has created its first mRNA vaccine in Victoria, with scientists hopeful it could protect against Covid variants.
The new vaccine was developed in Melbourne in five months by Monash University researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturer IDT Australia and the Doherty Institute.
It is now subject to clinical trials and regulatory approvals, the Australian Associated Press reports.
About 450 doses have been produced so far, enabling 150 people to take part in phase-one trials from January, with results expected later in 2022.
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Thailand has reported another 4,306 new daily cases of Covid-19 and 37 deaths, bringing the nation’s cumulative total to just over 2 million, according to recently released government health data.
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Canada has confirmed an additional two cases of the Omicron variant, bringing the nationwide tally to five cases.
A further two cases of the variant were detected in Ottawa, Ottawa Public Health said late on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Quebec discovered its first case of the variant, health officials said.
Quebec health minister Christian Dube also told reporters that 115 travellers coming from countries affected by the new variant, primarily South Africa, were called and asked to isolate and test for Covid-19.
Quebec’s first case was a recent traveler to Nigeria, public health director Horacio Arruda said, and was similar to the two cases Ontario province reported on Sunday.
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Singapore’s health ministry just announced that two travellers from Johannesburg who tested positive for the Omicron variant in Sydney had transited through Changi airport.
The two left Johannesburg on 27 November on a Singapore Airlines flight and arrived at Changi on the same day for their transit flight, the ministry said in a statement, Reuters reports.
Both had tested negative for Covid-19 before departure, it added.
The ministry said most of the travellers had remained in the transit area at Changi airport. Of the seven who disembarked, six had been placed on a 10-day stay-at-home notice, while the seventh – a close contact of an infected individual on the flight – had been quarantined.
The ministry said:
Contact tracing is ongoing for airport staff who may have come into transient contact with the cases.
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China has pledged another 1bn Covid-19 vaccine doses for Africa while working to encourage Chinese companies to invest no less than $10bn in the continent over the next three years, president Xi Jinping said on Monday.
China has already supplied nearly 200m doses to Africa, where vaccination rates have fallen behind.
Xi said 600m doses would be donations and 400m doses would be provided through other means such as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries, Reuters reports. China would also build 10 health projects in Africa and send 1,500 health experts, he said.
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Here’s quick snapshot of the latest global Covid-19 data.
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Hi everyone, it’s Samantha Lock here, ready to take you through all the new Covid developments this Tuesday.
It’s been a busy past few days on the Covid front with nations racing to close borders and reimpose restrictions after a new Covid variant was detected last week.
The Omicron variant has now been detected in at least a dozen countries including Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Israel, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.
The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the threat posed by the “highly mutated” Omicron variant showed what a “perilous and precarious” situation the world was in, as he warned that the pandemic would not end until every country has access to vaccines.
Let’s dive right back in with a quick recap of all the key developments you may have missed from the past few hours.
- The World Health Organization said the Omicron variant was likely to spread internationally, posing a “very high” global risk where Covid surges could have “severe consequences” in some areas.
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The UK is to ramp up booster vaccinations and will halve the minimum gap between jabs to three months, aiming to administer 500,000 jabs a day.
- The UK also announced that all adults would be eligible for a booster jab as part of the country’s response to Omicron as the country recorded 42,583 new cases and a further 35 deaths.
- France recorded a big jump in Covid cases after the health minister said the country had entered the fifth wave of the pandemic last week.
- Omicron has been detected in at least a dozen countries including Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Israel, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa.
- Sweden, Canada, Spain and Portugal reported their first cases linked to the Omicron variant.
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US president Joe Biden has said Omicron “is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic”. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is urging all US adults 18 and over to get booster shots. No further travel restrictions were planned for the US.
- President Xi Jinping said China would offer another 1bn doses of Covid vaccines to African countries and would encourage Chinese companies to invest $10bn in Africa over the next three years, Reuters reports.
- Poland, Ghana and Norway announced new restrictions on travel and socialising.
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