(Bloomberg) —
The Netherlands will return to a strict lockdown from Sunday, closing schools, all non-essential shops and limiting the number of visitors allowed in households. The rise of omicron means it is “looking increasingly likely that the healthcare system will become overburdened in January,” the government said.
The Mayor of London declared a “major incident” due to the spread of omicron. Cases of the variant in the U.K. tripled in a day, with England “almost certain” to be suffering hundreds of thousands of daily infections of the new variant, experts said.
Germany tightened rules for travelers from Britain to include a mandatory 14-day quarantine. David Frost, the U.K. minister in charge of post-Brexit negotiations, said he opposed “coercive measures” on Covid in his resignation letter, which followed reports the government is considering a two-week ban on people in England gathering indoors.
Australia’s largest state reported a record 2,566 cases on Sunday, including hundreds of cases of the omicron variant. President Joe Biden is set to warn the U.S. of the perils of remaining unvaccinated in a speech Tuesday, as the variant takes hold in the country.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 274.2 million; deaths top 5.35 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.66 billion shots given
- Travel Tracker: Covid cases rise, and border tightening follows
- Omicron gets around previous Covid infection, study warns
- Inside South African virology labs: Hunting for the next variant
- What we know about omicron, the new virus variant: QuickTake
China Finds Omicron in Travelers to Changsha (1 p.m. HK)
Two new cases of the omicron variant were detected in the central Chinese city of Changsha from arrivals into the country, state-backed media Xinhua reported Saturday, citing the municipal government.
The provincial capital of Hunan is the latest place to discover the variant in incoming travelers, after the southern province of Guangdong and the northern metropolis of Tianjin reported cases earlier this month. Omicron has put China’s Covid Zero strategy under pressure, although no local transmissions of the variant have yet been reported.
Brexit Chief Quits, Cites Covid Response (11:55 a.m. HK)
David Frost, the U.K. minister in charge of post-Brexit negotiations, resigned from Boris Johnson’s government. In a strongly-worded resignation letter, Frost said he was unhappy with current Brexit thinking and opposed anything that could look like another lockdown.
“We also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too. You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again,” he wrote to Johnson. “Sadly it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”
The government’s chief scientific advisers are warning that cases in England could be running in the hundreds of thousands a day, and speculation is rife that the Cabinet, of which Frost was a member, is on the cusp of acting on further measures.
Cases Surge in Australia’s Largest State (9:30 a.m. HK)
Australia’s largest state reported a record 2,566 cases Sunday, amid reports that health experts and some members of the government are supporting the reintroduction of mask mandates as the omicron variant spreads.
Testing confirmed that 313 of the cases involved the omicron strain, though state health officials said the majority of infections there are likely to be of that variant. New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet is under internal pressure to reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing for indoor settings and QR code check-ins, the Sydney Morning Herald reported late Saturday, citing ministers in his cabinet. Just days earlier, measures were relaxed across the state of more than 8 million people.
Meanwhile, New Zealand reported 55 new Covid cases Sunday, confirming an additional five cases of omicron cases in recent international arrivals, bringing the total number of new variant cases in managed quarantine to 13. No omicron cases have been active in the community.
HK Moves New Zealand, Qatar to High-Risk Group (7:43 a.m. HK)
Hong Kong will from Dec. 21 ban non-residents traveling from New Zealand, Egypt, Morocco and Qatar after omicron cases were found there, according to a statement late Saturday. Hong Kong residents returning from those places must be fully vaccinated and undergo hotel quarantine for 21 days under the change.
Germany Tightens U.K. Travel Rules (5:38 p.m. NY)
Germany declared the U.K. a virus-variant area, its highest-risk designation, and tightened the rules for travelers from Britain to include a mandatory 14-day quarantine after arrival.
The designation takes effect on Monday and stay in force at least until Jan. 3, the Robert Koch Institute, a national infectious-disease agency, said on its website.
New York Breaks Case Record For Second Day (4:35 p.m. NY)
New York state reported 21,908 cases on Saturday, breaking a record for the entire pandemic for a second consecutive day, Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
Daily infections in New York City, where the surge is shutting down Broadway shows and keeping workers from offices, rose further to 5,263, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter.
Statewide hospitalizations, which generally aren’t increasing as quickly as infections, rose 70 on Saturday to 3,909. Of 290,930 people tested, 7.53% were positive for the virus, a slight decline in a number that has otherwise soared in recent weeks.
Biden to Address Omicron Spread, Unvaccinated (3:15 p.m. NY)
President Joe Biden is set to warn the nation of the perils of remaining unvaccinated against the coronavirus in a planned speech Tuesday as the omicron variant takes hold in the U.S. and the nation experiences a surge in cases.
“We are prepared for the rising case levels, and @POTUS will detail how we will respond to this challenge,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Biden will announce new steps the administration is taking to help communities in need of assistance, while also issuing a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated, according to a White House official.
Netherlands Returns to Strict Lockdown (1:18 p.m. NY)
The Dutch government announced plans to enforce a stricter lockdown to stem a surge of infections caused by the spread of the omicron variant.
“Omicron spreads even quicker than we feared. That is why we have to act now, to prevent worse,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday at a news conference in The Hague. “We are going back into a lockdown.”
The tougher measures mean the country pivots from evening restrictions that shuttered shops, bars and restaurants after 5 p.m. to a so-called full lockdown that allows only supermarkets and essential shops to stay open. They’ll take effect on Sunday and last until at least Jan. 14.
S. Africa’s Omicron Center Shifts (12:20 p.m.)
The center of a fourth wave of coronavirus cases in South Africa that’s being fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant has shifted from the economic hub of Gauteng to the nation’s second most populous province.
In the last 24-hours the largest share of new cases were from KwaZulu-Natal at 26%, compared with Gauteng’s 21% and Western Cape’s 18%, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a statement on Saturday.
Total daily infections stood at 16,080, a 40% decline from Wednesday’s record 26,976 daily coronavirus cases.
English Soccer Body Makes Vaccine Plea (11:40 a.m. NY)
The chief executive of the English Premier League has written to its 20 clubs, urging them to “strongly encourage” players to get vaccinated.
“It has never been more important,” Richard Masters said in the letter. His comments come as six of the weekend’s top-flight matches were postponed because of Covid outbreaks at some of the clubs.
According to the BBC, 25% of players in the second-tier English Football League say they don’t intend to get inoculated.
U.K. Omicron Cases Triple; London on Alert (11:30 a.m. NY)
England is “almost certain” to be suffering hundreds of thousands of new omicron cases a day as the variant drives a new wave of the virus, the U.K. government’s scientific advisers said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” on Saturday due to the variant’s rapid spread across the capital, according to a statement. The move allows the city to coordinate emergency services and access government support.
Officially, the U.K. reported another 10,059 new omicron cases on Saturday, three times as many as Friday and an almost 16-fold increase in a week. The confirmed total for the variant now stands just under 25,000, the U.K. Health Security Agency said on Twitter. The variant accounts for the majority of U.K. cases, with 90,000 new infections overall reported on Saturday.
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