(Bloomberg) — The number of Covid-19 cases topped one million globally for the third day in a row and was poised to set another record Wednesday, as the World Health Organization said to expect a “bumpy road” in the days ahead.
Virus deaths in the U.S. are declining even as cases rise, according to federal health officials who suggested the surging omicron variant may cause less suffering than other strains.
Australia’s most populous state posted a record number of daily infections, while severe cases hit a high in South Korea. Italy’s government is set to ease quarantine rules in a bid to keep essential services running.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases top 284.4 million; deaths pass 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9.09 billion shots given
- Errors, inaction sent a deadly Covid variant around the world
- As omicron spreads, so does demand to ‘up your mask game’
- Pfizer, Merck pills hinge on Biden plan to expand testing
- What Covid therapies exist, and what omicron changes: QuickTake
Global Cases Top 1.63 Million (10:10 a.m. HK)
More than 1.63 million people worldwide were reported to have Covid-19 on Wednesday, the third day in a row with more than a million infections, as the omicron variant continues to spread.
The number will smash the global record set on Monday, with 1.49 million cases reported, when Johns Hopkins University posts the final daily tally on its virus tracker at midnight in Baltimore. The higher transmissibility of the omicron variant, plus its shorter incubation period, ability to evade existing immunity and higher reproduction number, is expected to drive records in the days to come.
South Korea’s Record Severity (10:00 a.m. HK)
South Korea reported 5,037 new Covid cases, including a record 1,145 severe infections on Wednesday. Deaths climbed to 73 from 46 a day earlier.
Rising Rates in Australia (7:30 p.m. HK)
Australia’s most populous state on Thursday reported a record 12,226 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, while hospitalizations reached the highest level since mid-October.
New South Wales, which includes Sydney, reported 746 hospitalized patients. Neighboring Victoria state recorded 5,137 new infections.
Australia’s state and territory leaders are set to meet later Thursday with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to discuss long lines for testing, the definition of a close contact and isolation requirements.
Paris to Require Masks Outdoors (4 p.m. NY)
People in Paris will be required to wear masks outside beginning Dec. 31 in an effort to slow the spread of new Covid-19 infections, the French police said on Wednesday.
The order, which applies to everyone over the age of 11, was needed because of the surge in cases in the city from the omicron variant, the police said in a statement.
There are exceptions to the rule, including for cyclists, people in cars and those practicing a sport.
France reported a record 208,099 new infections on Wednesday.
Ohio Deploys More National Guard (3:10 p.m. NY)
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is deploying an additional 1,250 National Guard members to aid hospitals in northern Ohio unable to cope with depleted staffing amid record Covid-19 hospitalizations.
The Cleveland Clinic, a world-renowned medical research institute and one of Ohio’s largest employers, is down 2,700 staff—roughly 10% of its medical caregiving workforce—due to quarantines, Robert Wyllie, the clinic’s chief medical officer said during a news conference. And the remaining staff must take care of more patients than ever.
The Cleveland Clinic is running roughly 2,000 tests daily, and 30% of those tests are coming back positive, Wyllie said. The positivity rate for the state overall neared 25% Wednesday, Ohio Department of Health Director Bruch Vanderhoff said.
There are already more than 500 Guard members deployed from Cleveland to Dayton.
Italy to Ease Isolation Rules (3 p.m. NY)
Italy’s government is set to ease quarantine rules in a bid to keep essential services running.
Ministers are discussing whether to lift the quarantine requirement completely for people who come into contact with a Covid-19 case if they have had three vaccine doses, according to a government official. The isolation time would also be cut to five days from seven for vaccinated people whose most recent dose was more than 120 days before exposure, the official said.
Non-vaccinated people will still need to isolate for 10 days, the official said.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that anyone who has Covid-19 can leave isolation after five days if they are no longer experiencing symptoms, cutting the recommended period in half.
U.S. Deaths Fall Even as Omicron Surges (1:30 p.m. NY)
Virus deaths in the U.S. are declining even as Covid-19 cases rise, according to federal health officials who suggested the surging omicron variant may cause less suffering than other strains.
Cases jumped 60% from the prior week, in large part due to the omicron variant, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing. In the same period, deaths fell 7% to a seven-day average of about 1,100 per day.
WHO Sees ‘Bumpy Road’ Until Low Covid Levels (11 a.m. NY)
Vaccine equity and making use of health and social measures can help bring the acute phase of death and hospitalization to an end in 2022, World Health Organization officials said.
“The virus itself is very unlikely to go away completely and will probably settle down into a pattern of transmission at low levels, causing occasional outbreaks in under-vaccinated populations,” said Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program. “But we’re certainly not there yet. This is going to be a bumpy road to low levels of Covid.”
It underlines the importance of getting people everywhere vaccinated as much as possible. Some 92 of 194 member states missed the WHO’s target to inoculate at least 40% of the population in each country, due to limited supplies to low-income countries and vaccines arriving close to expiration dates or without key parts like syringes, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Forty percent was doable” he said. “It’s not only a moral shame; it cost lives and provided the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate.”
Greece Brings Forward New Curbs (8:43 a.m. NY)
Greece will implement a host of new measures designed to slow the spread of omicron on Thursday, rather than Jan. 3 as originally planned.
“The omicron variant is now the predominant variant in the community,” Health Minister Athanasios Plevris said in a televised address. Restaurants, bars, cafes and night clubs must close at midnight, can operate only with a maximum of six people seated at tables and can no longer play music, Plevris said. These establishments will be allowed to stay open until 2 a.m. for the New Year.
CDC Director Sees More Kids in Hospitals (7:52 a.m. NY)
The U.S. is seeing a higher number of kids in hospitals as omicron spreads across the country, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told MSNBC.
“Most of those children are not yet vaccinated,” Walensky said Wednesday. “So the message here is: Get the children vaccinated.”
Walensky spoke amid concerns that the return of U.S. kids to to school after the holiday break may further spread infections, already at record levels.
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