(Bloomberg) — A booster of the vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., one of the most widely used in the world, didn’t produce sufficient levels of neutralizing antibodies to protect against the omicron variant, a study found.
By contrast, a third dose of AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine significantly boosted neutralizing antibodies against the new strain, a separate study showed.
The variant appears less likely to lead to hospitalizations than the delta strain, according to preliminary data from studies. Researchers in Scotland found omicron was associated with a two-thirds lower risk of hospitalization compared to the earlier variant. An Imperial College London team working with a larger data set found that people with omicron were almost half as likely to need an overnight hospital stay.
China locked down the western city of Xi’an to stamp out a persistent virus outbreak in the metropolis of 13 million people, its biggest such move since the pandemic started in Wuhan.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 277 million; deaths top 5.37 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.8 billion shots given
- Omicron brings new risks to mostly-unvaccinated pregnant women
- Stages, restaurants go dark as de facto shutdowns grip U.S.
- Omicron hospitalization risk is far below delta’s in two studies
- All you need to know about rapid test kits
- What we know about omicron, the new virus variant: QuickTake
Three Sinovac Doses Fails to Protect (6 p.m. H.K.)
Two doses and a booster of the vaccine made by China’s Sinovac didn’t produce sufficient levels of neutralizing antibodies to protect against the omicron variant, a laboratory study found.
A booster shot from Germany’s BioNTech SE significantly improved protective levels of antibodies against omicron for those who are fully immunized with the vaccine known as CoronaVac, according to the study from the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
AstraZeneca Booster Works Against Omicron (5:45 p.m. HK)
The vaccine, created by Astra and Oxford, saw neutralizing antibodies increase to similar levels as those after two doses against the delta variant with a booster shot, the company said. A third dose produced higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than those found in individuals who had recovered naturally from the alpha, beta and delta strains.
Portugal Sees Surge Coming (5:30 p.m. HK)
Portugal’s daily new coronavirus infections could reach a new high and surpass the record of over 16,000 cases recorded at the end of January of this year due to the spread of the omicron variant, Health Minister Marta Temido said.
Masks Return to Sydney and Melbourne (2:42 p.m. HK)
Australia’s two most-populous states are bringing back mask mandates as a surge in Covid-19 cases, led by the highly contagious omicron variant, threatens to roil Christmas plans for a second year.
In New South Wales, where Sydney is the capital, limits will also return on the number of patrons in hospitality venues from Dec. 27., in an attempt to limit the potential impact on the state’s health care system. Numbers are climbing at a slower rate in Victoria, home to Melbourne, which hadn’t eased public restrictions as fast as its neighboring state in recent weeks.
Both states will require masks to be worn in all indoor settings apart from private homes from Friday. Western Australia also made mask mandatory indoors until Dec. 28.
Japan’s Kyoto Finds Spread of Omicron (2:35 p.m. HK)
Kyoto prefecture confirmed community spread of the coronavirus omicron variant, Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki said at a briefing Thursday, a day after neighboring Osaka confirmed the first such spread in the nation.
A woman in her 20s who had no record of overseas travel was found to have the variant, the governor of the western Japan prefecture said in remarks streamed by broadcaster NHK. The government of Osaka Wednesday said it found three cases of omicron that it wasn’t able to trace.
Germany Sees No Current Need for Lockdown (2:25 p.m. HK)
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he doesn’t see a need for lockdown measures as things stand though they cannot be ruled out completely if infections surge.
“There are no red lines,” Lauterbach said in an interview with WDR2 radio. “If we were to see very high case numbers then lockdown measures are not ruled out but at the moment they are not absolutely necessary.”
Lauterbach is counting on an accelerated vaccination and booster campaign to help ward off the omicron strain of Covid-19, as well as restrictions on social contacts that will come into force next week.
Apple Closes Eight Stores Amid Virus Surge (1:32 p.m. HK)
Apple Inc. temporarily shuttered at least eight retail stores in the U.S. and Canada over the past day as Covid-19 cases surged among the public and employees.
Stores have been closed in Miami, Atlanta, Houston and Montreal, among other locations.
India Cases Are Ticking Up Again (1:32 p.m. HK)
India added 7,495 new Covid-19 infections, the highest in a week, according to government data reported Thursday.
New Delhi has canceled all Christmas and New Year’s festivities as cases slowly tick up. The city reported 125 new cases on Wednesday, the highest in more than five months. The country has so far reported 236 cases linked to the omicron variant.
Philippines Clears Pfizer Shot for Ages 5 to 11 (1:10 p.m. HK)
The Philippine Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 shot for ages 5 to 11, the regulator’s head Eric Domingo said.
The shot’s concentration and dosage are different from those used for adults, so the government will still have to procure the appropriate vaccine before it can start the rollout, which is targeted to start in early January. The regulator also approved the emergency use of Covid-19 antiviral molnupiravir under the brand name Molnarz.
China Expects Covid Cases at Olympics (11:53 a.m. HK)
The “odds are high” that a certain number of positive cases will appear during the Beijing Winter Olympics, given that a large amount of game-related staff will travel to China, Han Zirong, vice president and secretary general of the Beijing Organizing Committee, said at the briefing.
China strongly recommends all participants get a booster shot, Han said.
China Locks Down City of Xi’an (10:21 a.m. HK)
The 13 million residents of Xi’an were told to remain in their homes and to designate one person to go out every other day for necessities, while non-essential travel out of the city was banned.
This came after a second round of mass testing weeded out 127 Covid infections scattered across 14 districts, making containment of the virus “grave and complicated,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
CanSino 91.7% Effective Against Severe Covid (9:49 a.m. HK)
The one-shot viral vector Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s CanSino Biologics Inc is 57.5% effective against symptomatic infection in a phase III study. This is below the 65.7% efficacy reported by Pakistan’s health adviser Faisal Sultan earlier this year. The difference, according to a company spokesperson, is due to more thorough data collection from all the trial sites following the completion of the study.
The researchers said there are no reports of thrombosis or thrombocytopenia in any study participants, which are rare but severe side effects following the use of similar Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson.
Singapore Sees 41% Jump in Imported Cases (8:53 a.m. HK)
Singapore’s imported cases of Covid-19 rose 41% to 76 as of noon of Dec. 22 from the previous day, data from the Ministry of Health show.
The number is ticking up this month, and prompted the government to halt sale of quarantine-free travel lane tickets from Thursday.
Australia’s Hospitals Cope With Surge (8:45 a.m. HK)
Australia’s most-populous state, New South Wales, detected 5,715 new Covid cases on Thursday, a 52% jump from the previous record posted a day earlier.
While the surging outbreaks there and in other states are causing havoc to Australians’ Christmas plans, officials are placing more importance on the number of people needing serious treatment in the hospital, which is so far proving manageable.
India Study Finds Large Rise in Excess Deaths (7:30 a.m. HK)
Excess deaths in the eastern Indian city of Chennai increased 41% from typical mortality levels during the pandemic, according to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal, which adds further evidence of large-scale under counting of Covid-19 deaths in India.
Most excess deaths in Chennai during period occurred amid India’s devastating second-wave, according to researchers from the state government of Tamil Nadu, the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, the University of California Berkeley and Johns Hopkins.”
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