(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. is delaying its return to the office indefinitely as Covid-19 infections rise and Morgan Stanley has told some staff to work from home. Cases in the U.S. have jumped 60% since late October to an average of about 120,000 a day.
South Korea is limiting gatherings as it strengthens curbs to fight a record surge in cases. Canada advised residents to avoid non-essential travel to limit the spread of the omicron variant. The strain helped pushed daily infections in the U.K. to a record, and England expects hospitalizations to surge over the holidays.
A European official said omicron will likely be the dominant variant there by mid-January. Germany is rationing vaccines amid a surprise shortage of shots.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken scrapped the rest of his tour of Southeast Asia after a member of the press traveling with him tested positive. Singapore, which has warned of an “omicron wave,” reported three more cases of the strain.
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 272 million; deaths top 5.3 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.56 billion shots given
- Long Covid patients face fatigue, poor sleep even after one year
- Qantas CEO downplays omicron threat with upbeat view
- Unvaccinated patients push hospitals past the brink
- Will omicron oust delta is a question facing virus scientists
- Dimon’s disdain of Zoom falters as health conference goes online
New China Cluster (9:42 a.m. HK)
China reported 70 domestic infections on Thursday. While most of the cases were part of the ongoing flareup across three cities in eastern Zhejiang province, a new cluster is forming in the southern province of Guangdong. Six new cases are in Dongguan city and an asymptomatic one in the nearby provincial capital Guangzhou. Authorities have started mass testing and placed movement restrictions on some neighborhoods. The province also reported China’s second omicron case among those traveling from aboard.
South Korea Cuts Business Hours, Gathering Numbers (9:31 a.m. HK)
South Korea will ban gatherings of five or more people and order eateries and night-time entertainment businesses to close by 9 p.m. as it steps up curbs to fight a record surge in coronavirus cases.
The country will put in place the new social distancing rules from Saturday that run until Jan. 2 as the threat looms of an even higher surge fueled by the omicron variant. Most cases in the recent surge have been linked to people gathering at restaurants, bars and shopping malls, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Thursday. South Korea hit a daily record 7,850 new cases Wednesday.
N.Z. Provisionally Approves Pfizer for Ages 5-11 (8:28 a.m. HK)
New Zealand’s medicines regulator has provisionally approved the use of the Pfizer Inc. Covid-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11.
New Zealand’s government said earlier Thursday that 90% of people aged 12 and over are now fully vaccinated.
Morgan Stanley Tells Some Staff to Work From Home (8:04 a.m. HK)
Morgan Stanley has told its New York brokers and wealth management staff to work from home at least until the first week of January, Fox Business’s Charles Gasparino reports in tweet.
Italy Ban on Singapore Tourists (7:55 a.m. HK)
Singapore residents will not be allowed to travel to Italy for leisure from Thursday until Jan. 31 next year, the Straits Times reported, citing comments from the European country’s embassy.
The Italian embassy said its health ministry has moved Singapore and Brunei onto a list of countries deemed to be of higher risk of Covid-19 infections. The embassy did not specify the reason for changing Singapore’s risk classification, the report said. Covid cases in the community have plunged in recent weeks in Singapore, down from a high of more than 4,600 on Oct. 27 to less than 500 a day this week.
Myanmar Condemns Attacks on Health Workers (7:30 a.m. HK)
Myanmar’s Ministry of Health condemned attacks on health workers in the vaccine rollout after unidentified assailants killed a veteran doctor in Shan state on her way home after giving Covid vaccine shots. The government administered 32.65 million Covid vaccine doses as of Dec. 14, with 13.38 million out of 55 milion population fully vaccinated.
The nation reported 229 new coronavirus cases and four deaths on Wednesday.
Australian State Sets Case Record (6:30 a.m. HK)
Australia’s most-populous state reported a record 1,742 daily case as it continues to ease restrictions heading into the summer holiday season. Still, hospitalizations in New South Wales remain low. There are 192 people in hospital with Covid-19 and 26 in intensive care.
The state government on Wednesday removed restrictions on unvaccinated people’s movements and cut the number of places where masks are necessary. It also removed the requirement to check in using a QR code in most venues. The state’s vaccination rate for people 16 and over is 94.8%.
Apple Delays Return to Office (5 p.m. NY)
Apple Inc. is delaying its return to the office indefinitely, a response to a resurgence in Covid-19 cases.
The company’s corporate employees will return to offices at a “date yet to be determined,” according to a memo sent by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Wednesday. The date had been set for Feb. 1.
U.S. Health Spending Tops $4.1 Trillion (4 p.m. NY)
National health expenditures jumped in 2020 by the most since 2002 even as many Americans deferred addressing their own medical needs during the pandemic, according to actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services who tally spending by government, businesses and households each year.
The U.S. government’s response to Covid-19 pushed up the country’s total health spending to $4.1 trillion last year, a 9.7% increase that was the biggest in almost two decades.
Germany Rations Shots (4 p.m. NY)
Germany is rationing Covid-19 vaccines through the rest of the year as the country seeks to implement a widespread booster campaign amid a surprise shortage of shots.
The country has about 3 million doses of the BioNTech SE vaccine and is allotting them for the next three weeks, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said late Wednesday on ZDF television. The country has about 10 million Moderna Inc. shots, which is likely sufficient to cover demand, he said.
Canadians Advised to Avoid Travel (3:20 p.m. NY)
Justin Trudeau’s government is asking Canadians to avoid non-essential travel over the next month, as the spread of the omicron Covid-19 variant accelerates across the country.
The advisory will be in place for four weeks, meaning Canadians planning to celebrate Christmas outside the country will need to reconsider. The government is concerned about what could happen to citizens who choose to travel right now, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said.
Met Opera to Mandate Boosters: NYT (2:25 p.m. NY)
The Metropolitan Opera said it would require all eligible adult employees and audience members to get Covid booster shots in order to enter the opera house, making its safety measures stricter than those on Broadway or at other venues, the New York Times reported.
Greece Requires Tests for Visitors (11:55 a.m. NY)
Greece will require all visitors traveling to the country, including those from fellow European Union countries, to present a PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday. The decision is part of the government’s efforts to control the Covid pandemic amid worries about the new omicron variant, the ministry said. The requirement enters into effect at 6 a.m. local time on Dec. 19 with the only exception of travellers who remained in other country for less than 48 hours.
Fauci Says Boosters Curb Omicron (11:52 a.m. NY)
Existing vaccine booster shots appear to protect against the omicron variant, and as of now there’s no need to develop specialized shots to guard against it, U.S. health officials say.
Anthony Fauci, who serves as a medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said on a briefing Wednesday that studies so far show strong antibody responses from existing boosters, though protections against omicron are weaker with just two doses.
U.K. Reports Record Number of New Cases (11:10 a.m. NY)
The U.K. reported 78,610 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the most since the beginning of the pandemic, underlining the high transmissibility of the omicron variant.
The previous record high of 68,053 came on Jan. 8, days after the U.K. entered a lockdown as it faced a wave of infections driven by the alpha variant.
Scientific advisers warn that hospitalizations will rise as a result of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a “tidal wave” of omicron infections.
NYC to Fine Businesses for Defying Mandate (11:05 a.m. NY)
New York City will fine businesses $1,000 if they don’t comply with a Covid-19 vaccine mandate that starts on Dec. 27.
The city will also apply escalating penalties thereafter if violations persist, the city said in guidelines released Wednesday on how it will enforce the requirement, which covers roughly 184,000 private businesses with operations in the city.
Blinken Cuts Short Asia Trip (8:46 a.m. NY)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken scrapped the rest of his tour of Southeast Asia and will return to Washington after a member of the press traveling with him tested positive, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Blinken will skip planned visits to Thailand, where he was to meet Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, and to Hawaii, where he was scheduled to meet with U.S. Indo-Pacific forces. Blinken and other senior staff have tested negative for Covid, Price said.
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