(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration expects to take delivery of 4 million courses of Covid treatments by the end of January, according to officials familiar with the matter, ramping up therapies as the omicron variant spreads.
The U.K. government, meantime, said it will buy millions more antiviral pills from Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. as it seeks to combat the surge in omicron infections and reduce rising pressure on the country’s hospitals.
With the new strain spreading across much of the world, Chile led Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking in December, reflecting the broader recovery of the South America region helped by warmer weather and rapid booster shot rollouts.
Meta Platforms Inc. and Twitter Inc. have canceled plans to attend the CES tech conference in Las Vegas in response to the Covid surge. Sponsor T-Mobile US Inc. will also “significantly limit” its in-person presence at the show, while CEO Mike Sievert won’t give a keynote speech.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 276 million; deaths near 5.37 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.8 billion shots given
- Omicron at least doubles risk of getting Covid on a plane
- Data failures keep the U.S. from seeing the whole picture
- All you need to know about rapid test kits
- What we know about omicron, the new virus variant: QuickTake
Biden to Ramp Up Purchase of Covid Treatments (6 p.m. HK)
The Biden administration expects to take delivery of 4 million courses of treatments by the end of January, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The treatments include a monoclonal antibody product, pre-exposure preventive drugs for immunocompromised people, and new antiviral pills awaiting Food and Drug Administration authorization, the officials said. That authorization is expected as soon as Wednesday.
Chile Tops Resilience Ranking (6 p.m. HK)
Chile is No. 1 in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking in December, reflecting the broader recovery of the South America region helped by warmer weather and rapid booster shot rollouts. In the last month of the year, places in the Asia Pacific like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand also advanced as they reopened, though omicron is now chipping at their gains.
The new variant is halting the march toward normalization that’s characterized 2021, but a reluctance to revert to pre-vaccine lockdowns and other curbs is differentiating the best and worst places to be during the pandemic in December.
Among northern hemisphere countries faces surges of infection, many like the U.S. and U.K. are refraining from returning to the economically-crippling measures used to contain the virus in 2020, relying instead on accelerated booster drives to fight the new variant.
Southeast Asia continues to populate the bottom of the Ranking as they lag in vaccination and reopening. In December, Vietnam — where the export-reliant economy has been hard-hit by factory closures — took over the last place of No. 53 from the Philippines, where restrictions and infections have eased.
Turkey Approves Local Vaccine for Use (5:26 p.m. HK)
Turkish authorities approved emergency use of Turkovac, a locally developed conventional vaccine against Covid-19, according to the presidency.
Turkovac has been in development since 2020 with most trial studies having taken place this year. At least one member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has taken part in the trials.
Too Soon to Say if Omicron Less Severe: UCL (5:10 p.m. HK)
U.K. Buys More Antivirals to Fight Omicron (4:43 p.m. HK)
The U.K. government will buy millions more antiviral pills from Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. as it seeks to combat the surge in omicron infections and reduce rising pressure on the country’s hospitals.
Britain has secured an additional 1.75 million courses of Merck’s drug, molnupiravir, and an additional 2.5 million courses of Pfizer’s paxlovid, according to a statement Wednesday. Previously the U.K. had sourced 480,000 courses of molnupiravir and 250,000 courses of paxlovid.
Madrid Infections Hit Record (3:27 p.m. HK)
Spain’s Madrid region has reported a record number of daily infections, with the mayor of the capital among those falling ill. The news comes ahead of a meeting Wednesday between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and regional leaders to discuss the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Catalonia was the first region to reintroduce restrictions on Monday, setting capacity limits for restaurants, gyms, sporting events and cultural venues and lay out plans for a late-night curfew.
U.K. to Say Omicron Less Severe: Politico (3:26 p.m. HK)
U.K. government scientists are set to conclude that those who become sick with the omicron variant are less likely to become severely ill than from the delta strain, but that it’s not necessarily mild enough to avoid large numbers of hospitalizations, Politico’s Playbook reported, without saying where it got the information.
WEF Set for Davos in Summer (2:10 p.m. HK)
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which was set to take place in January before being postponed to summer, will happen in Davos, founder Klaus Schwab said in an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick.
The WEF had attempted to host this year’s annual meeting in the Swiss town of Lucerne and then in Singapore, though the virus meant neither happened.
Unvaccinated S. Africans Say Shots Unsafe (1:30 p.m. HK)
A quarter of South Africans who haven’t been vaccinated against Covid-19 say they refuse to get a shot because they believe it will harm or kill them, according to a study by the University of Cape Town.
Africa’s most developed economy has fully inoculated just over 44% of its adult population over a seven-month period even as the omicron variant has fueled record case numbers across the country since November.
U.S. Life Expectancy Drops by Most in 75 Years (1 p.m. HK)
Life expectancy in the US dropped by the most in more than 75 years in 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the pandemic spread across the country.
The disease caused by the coronavirus was the third-leading cause of death in 2020, behind only heart disease and cancer, the CDC said in a report released Wednesday examining annual mortality numbers in the U.S.
Japan Finds Omicron Community Transmission (1 p.m. HK)
Japan identified community transmission of the omicron variant for the first time, in a family of three in Osaka who had no prior record of traveling abroad. Cases in the country to date have been limited to those who traveled abroad or had interaction with travelers. Local stocks erased gains after the news.
Singapore Halts Quarantine-Free Travel Sales (11:30 a.m. HK)
Singapore will freeze new ticket sales for flights and bus trips under its vaccinated travel lanes for entry from Dec. 23 to Jan. 20 as the city-state looks to stem the importation of the omicron variant from countries where it is spreading rapidly. Those with existing tickets will still be able to travel.
The move applies to all 24 countries with which Singapore has agreements for quarantine-free air travel, as well as overland bus services with Malaysia, the government said Wednesday.
Singapore will also temporarily reduce vaccinated travel lane quotas and ticket sales for travel after Jan. 20, the Ministry of Health said.
China’s Xi’an Reports 52 Cases (10:30 a.m. HK)
The city of Xi’an, the latest epicenter in China’s outbreak, reported 52 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to the National Health Commission. The local government in the city in central Shaanxi province has halted operations of seven long-distance bus stations, with authorities raising one area in the city to ‘high-risk’ level and 40 to ‘medium-risk’.
Australia PM Backs Further Reopening (9:30 a.m. HK)
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is urging Australia’s state and territory leaders to move ahead with reopening plans as omicron outbreaks push daily coronavirus infections to record levels, causing havoc ahead of the nation’s summer vacation period.
“The idea that you’re going to suppress it at any extreme level or you’re going to eliminate it, that’s nonsense,” Morrison said of the omicron variant in a television interview on Wednesday. “We have to live with it and we have to just stay calm.”
Omicron is putting pressure on Australia’s push to fully reopen, after New South Wales and Victoria recently removed months-long lockdowns and other restrictions which the prime minister says are now unnecessary due to the vaccination rate.
Meta, Twitter Scrap CES Plans (9:20 a.m. HK)
Meta Platforms Inc., Pinterest Inc., Twitter Inc. and several news outlets have canceled plans to attend the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas, a response to surging cases around the world.
T-Mobile US Inc., a CES sponsor, said Tuesday it will “significantly limit” its in-person presence at the show. And Chief Executive Officer Mike Sievert will no longer be giving a keynote speech at the event, either in-person or online.
The show, put on by the Consumer Technology Association, is still scheduled to get underway in early January. But efforts to return to normal after an online-only event last January have been hindered by omicron.
Philippines Shortens Booster Interval (9 a.m. HK)
The Philippines has shortened the interval for administering Covid-19 vaccine boosters. Effective Wednesday, boosters may be given to adults at least three months after the second dose of a primary two-dose vaccine, or two months after a single dose, the Department of Health said. The agency revised its initial recommendation for a six-month wait time.
England Cuts Isolation Time; U.S. Also Mulling (8 a.m. HK)
People in England who test positive for Covid-19 will have to self-isolate for only seven days starting Wednesday as the U.K. government seeks to reduce rising staff shortages amid a surge in omicron infections.
U.S. health officials are weighing whether to change isolation recommendations for some vaccinated people, Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, told CNN on Tuesday.
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