(Bloomberg) —
Germany’s intensive care units are “severely strained” and will stay under pressure for now even as new Covid cases decline, according to one medical association. U.K. care homes are cutting back on visits and health officials are pushing for even tighter limits on socializing, the Guardian reported.
More countries across Europe and Asia are expanding their vaccine programs to younger children, as preliminary U.K. data showed that vaccine boosters improve protection to as much as 75% against the rapidly spreading omicron variant. Denmark is seeing the number of people infected with the variant double every second day, offering a glimpse of what is probably unfolding throughout Europe.
In the U.S., most of the cases traced to the omicron variant so far have been mild illnesses in people who were vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Nevertheless, hospitals in parts of the country are hurtling toward a holiday crisis and New York ordered all businesses to require masks indoors if they don’t have a vaccine requirement.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 269 million; deaths approach 5.3 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.37 billion shots given
- Omicron propels U.S. booster drive where it’s needed least
- What we know about omicron: QuickTake
- Seafarers Heading Home Pose Next Risk to China’s Ship Traffic
- World rushes to boost against omicron, but questions remain
- Closed U.S. movie theaters leave void from small towns to big cities
Scotland’s Tighter Isolation Rules Come Into Force (6:15 a.m. NY)
People in Scotland who live with someone who catches Covid must now isolate for 10 days, regardless of whether they test negative or have been vaccinated. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the change on Friday, warning that omicron could bring a surge of new cases.
U.K. Cuts Care Home Visits; Hospitality Battles Staff Shortage (5:45 p.m. HK)
The U.K. Department of Health and Social Care is letting care home residents receive visits from just three nominated people over Christmas, the Guardian reported. The new rule is expected to be effective on Wednesday, according to the paper. Residents and staff will also be subject to more frequent testing.
The changes come as U.K. Health and Security Agency officials advise ministers that “stringent national measures” should be taken within a week to avoid Covid hospitalizations surpassing last winter’s peak, the Guardian reported. Curbs such as stricter isolation rules for contacts of Covid cases, masks in pubs and a hospitality shut-down could be considered.
Separately, the U.K.’s hospitality industry is trying to solve staff shortages exacerbated by the pandemic by offering signing bonuses of as much as 2,000 pounds ($2,650), according to a separate report in the Guardian.
German Intensive Care Units Still “Severely Strained” (5:30 p.m. HK)
German ICUs remain “severely strained,” according to Gernot Marx, the head of the country’s association for intensive care medicine DIVI. “We are running at full capacity throughout Germany,” Marx told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.
Even if new cases drop significantly, it takes time for that kind of relief to reach the ICUs, he said. The association expects the number of patients in ICUs to reach 6,000 by Christmas, exceeding the peak during the second wave of the pandemic last winter.
Switzerland and Czech Republic to Jab Younger Children (4:30 p.m. HK)
Switzerland approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11 years old. Swissmedic, the nation’s agency for therapeutic products, said “clinical trial results show that the vaccine is safe and effective in this age group.” The children’s dose will be one-third the strength of the vaccine given to adolescents and adults, Swissmedic said.
Separately, the Czech Republic said it will start vaccinating children between 5 and 11 years old next week. The country will open registry for kids from Sunday, and expects the first shots for children, from the total 300,000 it ordered, to arrive at the beginning of the week. The country had 12,836 new cases on Friday, 5,300 less than a week ago.
Cases in Germany Decline (2:25 p.m. HK)
Cases in Germany are falling. The nation recorded a total of 53,697 new cases, compared with 61,288 the day before, according to the country’s public health authority RKI. The 7-day incidence rate fell to 402.9 per 100,000 people. Daily reported new deaths associated with the virus rose by 510, bringing the total to 105,506.
AstraZeneca to Supply Singapore With Antibody Drug (1:05 p.m. HK)
AstraZeneca Plc has signed a purchase agreement with Singapore to deliver Evusheld, a Covid-19 antibody drug, the U.K. pharmaceutical company said in a statement Friday.
Supply is expected to arrive in Singapore by the end of the year. A Phase III trial showed an 88% reduced risk of severe infection or death when patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 were treated within three days of the onset of symptoms. Pre-clinical data also suggest that Evusheld efficacy should not be significantly impacted by the new omicron variant.
Vietnam to Begin Trial Run of International Flights (11:05 a.m. HK)
Vietnam will resume some international flights starting Jan. 1 in a bid to support the nation’s aviation and tourism industries, according to a statement on the government’s website late Friday.
The pilot program will start with nine destinations, including Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and San Francisco, according to the statement, without providing details on any required quarantines for people entering the country.
Singapore Expands Vaccination to Children Aged 5-11 (10:40 a.m. HK)
Vaccinations for children aged five to 11 years will start before the end of 2021, according to an emailed statement. A Covid committee recommends that children with moderate to severe chronic medical conditions should be prioritized for access to the vaccine.
With the roll-out of vaccines to children, the city-state plans to administer more than 2 million doses over the next two months, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post.
In a separate announcement, Singapore’s health ministry said it has detected three more cases that tested preliminarily positive for the omicron variant.
U.S. Weighs Travel With Southern Africa (4:50 p.m. NY)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing analytical models to determine when reopening travel from eight southern African countries would no longer impact the spread of the omicron variant in the U.S., with an eye toward lifting controversial restrictions implemented last month, the White House said Friday.
“What we are doing currently, right now is looking at the evidence that would get us to pull back,” Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told reporters in a virtual briefing. The CDC is studying “the risk of increased influx of individuals who are infected, balanced against the already existing infection in our own country.”
The U.S. hopes to have the models completed within the next few days to a week, he said. The travel bans have been decried by international medical officials who say they could discourage countries from reporting new variants, and other critics have said the rules unfairly target majority Black countries. But the White House has said the restrictions are temporary and intended to buy time for scientists to study the variant and implement new mitigation steps.
Italy, Portugal, Switzerland to Vaccinate Kids (1:17 p.m. NY)
Italy will start vaccinating children aged 5-11 starting Dec. 16, and Portugal will begin on Dec. 18. Both countries will give priority to children who are medically vulnerable. Switzerland didn’t give a date for expanding vaccinations.
Danish Omicron Surge Warning to Europe (1:10 p.m. NY)
Denmark is seeing the number of people infected with the omicron variant of Covid-19 double every second day, offering a glimpse of a development that is probably unfolding throughout Europe.
The Nordic country can offer valuable insights into what to expect from omicron, as it has Europe’s most rigorous screening program, with a high level of testing, and variant-screening of all positive PCR tests. That explains why Denmark has reported the highest number of omicron cases in the European Union, Troels Lillebaek, chair of the Danish SARS-CoV-2 variant assessment committee, said.
“Denmark is not a hotspot for omicron compared with any other European country,” Lillebaek said in an interview on Friday. “I’m quite sure that what we are seeing now in Denmark is also happening in neighboring countries, and in other European countries.”
Denmark has now recorded more than 1,000 cases of the omicron variant after a 60% jump in one day.
U.S. Finds Omicron Cases Mild So Far (1 p.m. NY)
Most of the U.S. Covid-19 cases traced to the omicron variant so far have been mild illnesses in people who were vaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Friday.
In the first 43 cases investigated, 34 occurred in people who were fully vaccinated, the CDC said, including some who had gotten booster shots. Most reported mild symptoms. One vaccinated patient was hospitalized for two days. There were no deaths.
“As with all variants, a lag exists between infection and more severe outcomes, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in vaccinated persons,” CDC researchers wrote in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Omicron Set to Dominate in U.K. (12:19 p.m. NY)
Covid vaccine boosters improve protection to as much as 75% against the rapidly spreading omicron variant, based on preliminary U.K. data.
An early study of vaccine effectiveness showed that the shots from AstraZeneca Plc and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership provided much lower defenses against symptomatic infection with omicron, compared with the delta strain, after two doses. A booster lifted protection to 70% to 75% in the early days after the shot.
U.K. health officials expect omicron to become the dominant variant by the middle of December. New evidence shows that the strain is growing much faster than delta in England.
The U.K. reported 58,000 new cases on Friday, the highest number since Jan. 9. The omicron variant was identified in 448 of the cases, compared to 249 the day before. Hospital numbers stood roughly steady.
Waste Shows Omicron Dominant in Capetown (10:58 a.m. NY)
Omicron is now the dominant coronavirus variant in Cape Town, the South African Medical Research Council said, citing wastewater analyses.
The variant was found in 11 of 12 wastewater samples collected in Cape Town on Nov. 30, the council said in a statement on Friday. The delta variant was only dominant at one wastewater plant in the city, it said.
Covid Crisis Threatens U.S. Holidays (10:40 a.m. NY)
After months of warnings that vaccinations would ward off a Covid-19 disaster, the U.S. is sailing toward a holiday crisis.
Cases and hospital admissions are rising amid a season of family gatherings. Most victims have shunned inoculations. The situation is especially dire in the chilly Northeastern states, but doctors in many places report a grimly repetitive cycle of admission, intensive care and death. There are shortages of beds and staff to care for the suffering.
“We’re in desperate shape,” said Brian Weis, chief medical officer at Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo, the state’s worst hot spot.
N.Y. Requires Masks Indoors in Public (10:27 a.m. NY)
New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered all businesses to require masks indoors if they don’t have a Covid-19 vaccine requirement.
“We’re entering a time of uncertainty and we could either plateau here or our cases could escalate beyond control,” Hochul said in a briefing. “We’re heading upward in a direction that I find is no longer sustainable.”
Swiss Weigh Further Pandemic Steps (9:07 a.m. NY)
Switzerland is considering new measures, including closing indoor restaurants and fitness centers as well as mandating people to work from home, as it seeks to counter a surge in new infections.
The government will be discussing two options. One would limit entry to restaurants and museums and other public indoor venues to those who’ve been inoculated or have recovered from the virus.
The other option would effectively be a partial lockdown, closing restaurants for indoor dining, gyms and discos. The next decision will be made Dec. 14.
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