(Bloomberg) — China reported its first omicron case, while Hong Kong issued quarantine-free rules for limited business travel to the mainland. Cases jumped in Australia’s most-populous state, and the Asian Development Bank cut its growth forecast.
California is reimposing an indoor mask mandate as omicron spreads, while U.S. cases topped 50 million, meaning about 15% of the population has tested positive for the virus.
Ireland said residents can get boosters three months after the second shot of a vaccine, instead of five. The U.K. said one person has died from omicron. Italy is planning to extend the state of emergency until March 31.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told London staffers to work from home if they can. Fidelity Investments paused a return-to-office plan in New England, as did Bank of Nova Scotia in Ontario.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 270.7 million; deaths top 5.3 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.48 billion shots given
- What will Covid do next? One doctor has ideas: Michael Lewis
- The high-stakes effort to prevent the next pandemic (Podcast)
- Drugmakers race to create omicron booster in 100 days
- Two weeks into the omicron outbreak: where to from here?
- Rich business owners rethinking retirement in pandemic’s fallout
Myanmar Aims to Produce Covid Vaccine From January (8:10 a.m. HK)
Myanmar is cooperating with neighboring China to produce 5 million Covid vaccine doses a month, starting from January, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said at a meeting on Monday.
“We expect to surpass our target of vaccinating half of our adult population by the end of this month,” he was quoted as saying on state-broadcaster MRTV.
Manchester United Match Postponed Amid Outbreak (8:05 a.m. HK)
Manchester United’s match at Brentford FC that was set for Tuesday has been postponed amid a Covid outbreak within Manchester’s squad, the Premier League said.
Hong Kong Lays Out Rules for Business Travel to China (7:55 a.m. HK)
Hong Kong’s financial regulator unveiled rules for quarantine-free business travel to the Chinese mainland, laying out some of the first details in the long-awaited plan to re-open the border.
Travel will initially be quite limited, with only staff or directors of a licensed corporation who have regional roles and whose main purpose is to travel to nearby Guangdong province to manage mainland business allowed to pre-register, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said late Monday on the first phase of the plan. Each company may submit one pre-registration, and it will be limited to just two executives each calendar month.
Cases Surge in Australia’s Biggest State as Curbs Eased (7:30 a.m. HK)
Australia’s most-populous state has recorded its highest daily Covid-19 infection tally in more than two months as authorities battle the fast-spreading omicron variant, even as New South Wales readies to remove almost all restrictions.
The state recorded 804 new virus infections in the 24 hours to 8 p.m. Monday, a 50% jump from the day before, officials said in statement Tuesday. It’s the largest tally since Oct. 2, when its largest city Sydney was in the midst of a months-long lockdown to combat the delta variant.
California Reimposes Mask Mandate (6:50 a.m HK)
California will require face masks in all indoor public settings for one month, starting Wednesday. Many of the state’s most populous counties already have such requirements. California also will tighten rules for indoor events with more than 1,000 attendees, blocking entrance to any unvaccinated people who don’t show a negative test result taken within one or two days, depending on the type of test. The state currently allows attendance for anyone with a negative test taken within three days.
The measures come as California’s case rate has jumped to 14 infections per 100,000 people from 9.6 around Thanksgiving. Vaccinations have lagged in many of the state’s rural counties, leaving residents vulnerable to the delta and now omicron variants of the disease. But the new restrictions aren’t a prelude to another round of business shutdowns, said Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary.
“People say, ‘Is this the first step along the course we’re familiar with, with more closures?’ Absolutely not,” he said at a press conference Monday.
Brazil Wants Proof of Vaccination (6:00 a.m HK)
Brazil is now requiring travelers to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 when entering the country, adding to the list of nations adopting new measures amid renewed concerns about new variants of the virus.
Moderna Shot Will Be Made in Australia (4:15 p.m. NY)
Australia’s Victoria state will become the first place in the southern hemisphere to manufacture mRNA vaccines after reaching an in-principle agreement with Moderna. The new manufacturing and finishing facilities and Australian research center will be capable of producing up to 25 million vaccine doses per year from 2024, with the capacity to scale up to 100 million doses per year to combat future pandemics, according to the state government.
Ireland Cuts Gap for Booster as Omicron Spreads (4 p.m. NY)
Omicron now accounts for about 11% of all cases in Ireland and is likely to increase “very rapidly over the coming days,” the Irish health ministry said. The variant accounted for about 1% of confirmed cases a week ago but is now growing exponentially with widespread community transmission, it added.
“We are hoping for the best while preparing for the worst,” chief medical officer Tony Holohan said. The government is cutting the gap between second vaccine doses and booster jabs to three months from five months previously, and will offer a fourth dose to people with compromised immune systems. Ireland reported 4,688 newly confirmed cases on Monday, largely in-line with recent days.
N.Y. Mandate Left Intact by Supreme Court (3:52 p.m. NY)
A divided U.S. Supreme Court left in force New York’s requirement that health-care workers be vaccinated against Covid-19, refusing to order exemptions for 20 providers who say they object to the shot on religious grounds.
The rebuff, which came with no explanation, follows a similar rejection in a Maine case in October. Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Gorsuch criticizing New York Governor Kathy Hochul for comments she made defending the lack of a religious exemption.
The orders come amid a cultural and political firestorm over Covid vaccine requirements. Republican-led states including Florida are moving to fine companies unless they let workers opt out, pushing back against President Joe Biden’s plan to require private employers to ensure workers are vaccinated or face federal occupational safety penalties.
A federal appeals court has put the Biden rules on hold, and that issue is likely to reach the Supreme Court soon as well.
U.S. Cases Top 50 Million (3:10 p.m. NY)
U.S. coronavirus cases topped 50 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has killed almost 800,000 Americans since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
NBA’s Chicago Bulls Have Two Games Postponed (3 p.m. NY)
The Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association won’t be playing any basketball games this week. The team has 10 players in the league’s health and safety protocols plus additional staff members, prompting the NBA to postpone their next two games.
Chicago’s Tuesday match-up against the Pistons and Thursday’s contest versus the Raptors will be rescheduled for later dates.
The Chicago Department of Public Health had concerns about the Bulls continuing to play this week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported. Covid-19 cases in Chicago have been on the rise in recent weeks.
Italy to Extend State of Emergency (2:27 p.m. NY)
Italy is set to extend the government’s emergency powers until March 31 as the country faces a rise in Covid cases, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The decision to extend the previous deadline, which was Dec. 31, may come as soon as Tuesday, the person said. The government has used emergency powers, which streamline decision making, since the start of the pandemic.
In the week ending Dec. 12 Italy reported 15,186 new Covid cases and 115 more deaths than the week before. According to government data, 88.2% of Italians over 12 have received at least one dose of a vaccine against the disease.
Fidelity Halts Return to Office in New England (12:45 p.m. NY)
Fidelity Investments paused its voluntary return-to-office pilot program in New England amid rising Covid-19 risks.
The firm stopped non-essential workers from coming into offices in Boston; Smithfield, Rhode Island; and Merrimack, New Hampshire, spokesman Stephen Austin said Monday in an emailed statement. Voluntary return-to-office programs for thousands of employees in other locations around the U.S. remain in effect.
Denmark Expects Omicron to Dominate (11:10 a.m. NY)
Denmark expects omicron to become the dominant variant of the virus this week and that daily infections will reach 10,000, SSI, the country’s institute for infectious diseases, said in a statement on Monday. The total number of confirmed cases has now reached 2,471 or double the number from Friday.
“We expect that the second and especially the third shot will protect against serious illness from the omicron variant,” Henrik Ullum, the head of SSI, said in the statement.
The Nordic country, which has a population of 5.8 million, plans to deliver 650,000 vaccinations this week as it is now inviting people to take the third booster shot as early as four and a half months after the second jab.
Goldman Asks London Staff to Work From Home (9:39 a.m. NY)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has told its London staff to work from home if they can, as the City of London’s biggest firms adjust to the latest government guidance.
“Those of you who are able to work from home effectively should do so from Monday,” the lender said last week in an internal memo. The bank’s offices will remain open for those who still need to come in. Safety protocols including an on-site testing program and the wearing of masks away from desks remain in place.
South Africa Admissions Rise, Stay Below Peak (9:34 a.m. NY)
South African hospitals have 6,198 Covid-19 patients, of which 6.8% are in intensive-care units, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a report on Monday.
Of the 420 people in ICU, 167 are on ventilators, the institute said. Of the admissions 2,685 are in Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The numbers compare with the 5,563 who were in the hospital a day earlier, with 7.3% of those in ICU. Covid-19 hospitalizations reached nearly 20,000 in January and July, the peaks of the country’s second and third waves, respectively.
U.K. to Scrap Hotel Quarantine (9:19 a.m. NY)
The U.K. is poised to announce as soon as Tuesday the removal of all 11 countries from its Covid-19 red list, ending mandatory hotel quarantine for travelers arriving from the riskiest countries.
Ministers believe the move is logical now that omicron cases in the U.K. are doubling every two to three days, a person familiar with the matter said. Johnson said omicron would account for the majority of cases in London by Tuesday.
Norway Warns of Omicron Dangers (8:18 a.m. NY)
Norway’s health system will come under strain if tighter measures aren’t implemented soon to counter omicron, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health warned.
In one scenario, there could be as many as 90,000 to 300,000 cases a day, with 50 to 200 hospital admissions in three weeks, if the contagion isn’t slowed significantly, officials said.
There are now 958 proven cases of the more infectious type of the virus to date in the country, up from 33 cases on Dec. 7. Almost 90% of Norwegian adults have received two shots of vaccine.
China Reports 1st Omicron Case: Global Times (8:06 a.m. NY)
The city of Tianjin reported the first case of omicron in mainland China Monday, the Global Times reported, citing the city.
The infection came from an overseas arrival and the patient is receiving treatment at a designated hospital, the Chinese news outlet reported.
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