(Bloomberg) — China detected omicron in a second major port city, deepening concern of a wider outbreak at Beijing’s doorstep and raising the prospect that more foreign businesses might follow Toyota Motor Corp. in halting operations along the northeastern coast.
Crowds at the Australian Open will be capped at half capacity as authorities in host city Melbourne worry about surging infections. A U.S. study found that almost all teenagers who needed intensive care for Covid-19 were unvaccinated, bolstering the case for the shot in youths.
Switzerland joined Spain and the U.K. in suggesting that the coronavirus pandemic may be shifting to an endemic phase. Covid infection rates are falling in London, raising hopes that the omicron outbreak is in retreat.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases top 315.3 million; deaths pass 5.5 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9.57 billion shots administered
- China faces mounting economic damage from Covid-zero policy
- For emerging economies, new Covid wave spawns new thinking
- Omicron has workers ready to quit rather than return to office
- N95 mask prices hit ‘ridiculous’ highs on CDC advice speculation
India Parliament May Work in Shifts (12:56 p.m. HK)
A surge in coronavirus infections may force the Indian parliament’s upcoming budget session to be conducted in shifts, ANI news agency reported citing unnamed officials.
The federal Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs proposed the plan after more than 400 staff members tested positive ahead of the session expected to begin later this month, according to the report.
H.K. Experts Recommend Wearing Two Masks (12:50 p.m. HK)
High-risk people should consider wearing two face masks to guard against contracting the omicron variant, two Hong Kong virus experts said, as the city attempts to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious virus.
Wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask can “tighten the gap not covered by the surgical mask, which is often very loose,” said David Hui, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a member of the government’s scientific committee. He recommended the measure for high-exposure groups, people in outbreak areas and on public transport.
Canada Drops Trucker Vaccine Mandate (12:37 p.m. HK)
Canada will allow unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers to cross in from U.S., reversing a decision requiring all truckers to show proof of vaccination, Reuters reported, citing a Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson.
H.K. Government Staff Can Work From Home (11:48 a.m. HK)
The Hong Kong government is allowing civil servants who are not involved in anti-epidemic duties to take turns to work from home starting Thursday to Feb. 4, according to an emailed statement from the Civil Service Bureau.
Japan to Scrap Quarantine for Medical Workers (11:41 a.m. HK)
Japan will allow medical workers who have been identified as close contacts of omicron cases to keep working, after staff absences caused by a 14-day quarantine period stressed the health system in an area suffering from a large outbreak.
The health-care staff can continue working as long as they pass daily tests, the country’s health minister Shigeyuki Goto told reporters on Wednesday. The government is moving to allocate resources to those who need them the most as cases surge in Japan, which had all but snuffed out its wave of the delta variant.
Hong Kong May Hack BioNTech Shot (10:49 a.m. HK)
Hong Kong’s vaccine advisory panel recommended giving a partial dose of BioNTech SE’s adult Covid shot to younger children, resorting to an “off-label use” amid supply shortages for a pediatric formulation.
The experts suggested children age 5 to 11 receive 10 micrograms of the German-made shots, which is one-third of the adult dose. The move would “facilitate the timely extension” of vaccine coverage for those age groups, the government advisers said in a statement.
Australian Open to Curb Crowds (10:05 a.m. HK)
Crowds at the Australian Open will be capped at half capacity as authorities in host city Melbourne worry about increasing omicron infections and hospitalizations. Spectators at the tennis tournament will be required to wear face masks and density limits will apply for all indoor hospitality areas when it starts Monday, Victoria state government said in a statement.
Victoria’s health-care system is under pressure as thousands of its workers are furloughed after being exposed to the virus. The state recorded 37,169 new infections Thursday, up from 7,442 at the start of the year, while hospitalizations have more than doubled to 953 in the same period.
In Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, more than 92,264 new infections were recorded Thursday. That included some 61,387 infections detected from rapid tests since Jan. 1, more than 50,000 of which were from the past 7-days, state health authorities said in a statement. The state has 2,383 people hospitalized with Covid, up from 903 at the start of the year.
Biden to Send Medical Teams to Six States (9:43 a.m. HK)
The U.S. federal government will send medical teams to New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan and New Mexico to help hospitals overburdened by Covid-19, USA Today reported, citing an unidentified White House official.
President Joe Biden is expected to unveil the deployments on Thursday while discussing plans to address the omicron variant, the newspaper said.
China Detects Omicron in Second Port City (8:13 a.m. HK)
China detected omicron in a second major port city, deepening concern of a wider outbreak at Beijing’s doorstep and raising the prospect that more foreign businesses might follow Toyota in halting operations along the northeastern coast.
Chinese officials said Thursday that at least one person has the more transmissible omicron variant in Dalian, a city of seven million. The patient showed no symptoms, but tested positive after returning from their college in the nearby city of Tianjin, where at least 137 other cases were traced as of Wednesday. A second person in Dalian has also tested positive with the virus, but the variant is unknown.
A broader spread of omicron is bad news for China. With just three weeks to go before the winter Olympics are set to begin in Beijing, China has put in place some of the world’s toughest measures to stamp out the virus.
BioNTech Still Talking With China (5:20 p.m. NY)
Vaccine maker BioNTech SE hasn’t given up on securing approval for its mRNA Covid-19 shot in mainland China, despite a monthslong delay and the country doubling down on homegrown inoculations.
“It is continued dialog with the Chinese authorities,” Sean Marett, the German drug developer’s chief commercial officer, said at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s annual health care conference this week. “It’s difficult to predict when we will get approval, but China remains for us extremely important.” Chief Strategy Officer Ryan Richardson said there was significant interest in mRNA shots in China, but the key was working out how to “open up the regulatory pathway.”
Study Bolsters Case for Vaccine in Youths (5 p.m. NY)
Almost all teenagers who needed intensive care for Covid-19 were unvaccinated, according to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, bolstering the case for using the Pfizer-BioNTech shot in youths.
The vaccine prevented 98% of ICU visits and 94% of Covid-related hospitalizations in the real-world study of more than 1,000 adolescents ages 12 to 18 in 23 states. The research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a network of 31 hospitals is one is one of the most detailed yet showing that vaccines can prevent severe Covid complications in teenagers.
U.S. Eyeing China Lockdowns’ Impact (4:38 p.m. NY)
The U.S. is monitoring the economic impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns imposed in China “very closely,” White House economic adviser Brian Deese told reporters during a briefing.
An omicron outbreak in China is sending jitters through supply chains as manufacturers and shippers brace for disruption inside the world’s-biggest trading nation if it can’t contain the fast-spreading variant.
Fall in London Cases Raises Hope (11 a.m. NY)
Covid infection rates are falling in London, raising hopes that the omicron outbreak is in retreat.
Infections for the U.K. increased to 4.3 million in the first week of January, up from 3.7 million a week earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. England accounted for the bulk, at just over 3.7 million, and the highest infection rate at 1-in-15.
But cases in London, which has been at the epicenter of the U.K. outbreak, dropped from 1 in 10 to 1 in 15. The hot spots are now the North West of England and Yorkshire and the Humber, where 1 in 10 people have Covid.
Signs that the virus may be retreating in the capital provide some hope that the worst may soon be over. A short, sharp surge in cases echoes the experience in South Africa, where omicron was first reported.
Swiss Add to Talk of Endemic Phase (10:30 a.m. NY)
Switzerland’s interior minister said the transition from pandemic to a stage where the country learns to live with Covid-19 like the flu may be in sight.
“We may be on the eve of a watershed, the transition from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase,” Alain Berset, whose ministry includes health, said at a media conference Wednesday.
Berset’s comments follow a call by Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday to consider treating the crisis differently, given that the omicron wave of infections hasn’t led to an equivalent surge in hospitalizations and deaths. Britain’s Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, told the BBC on Sunday the U.K. is “on a path towards transitioning from pandemic to endemic.”
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