(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.
South Africans contracting Covid in the current fourth wave of infections are 80% less likely to be hospitalized if they catch the omicron variant, compared with other strains, according to a study released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
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.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 276 million; deaths near 5.37 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 8.8 billion shots given
- Stages and restaurants go dark as de facto shutdowns grip U.S.
- 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
Denmark Demands Negative Tests (7:56 a.m. NY)
Denmark’s government is planning to require all travelers to present a negative test to enter the country, joining Finland, Italy and Greece in unilaterally limiting free movement within the European Union.
While provisional data from the Nordic country suggests that those catching the omicron strain have a smaller risk of being hospitalized, the picture changes when adjusted for age and vaccination status, according to Henrik Ullum, head of Statens Serum Institute, SSI, the body under the health ministry in charge of Denmark’s response to infectious diseases.
Germany Could Soon Be Swamped (7:34 a.m. NY)
The head of Germany’s public-health institute warned that the omicron variant could become dominant in the country in the next one to two weeks with potentially serious consequences for hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, said case numbers are likely to start rising again soon in a wave of infections “with a dynamic unlike anything we’ve yet seen.” He urged citizens to limit social contact over the festive period, noting that Germany is still suffering around 2,000 Covid-related deaths per week.
Japan’s Kono Urges Faster Booster Rollout (7:32 a.m. NY)
Former Japanese vaccine czar Kono Taro said the government should speed up its rollout of coronavirus booster shots as the omicron variant spreads.
“Speed matters more than fairness and now omicron is coming in, so we should be doing it as fast as possible,” he told Bloomberg News in an interview, He dismissed a government plan that requires an interval of eight months between second and third doses for most people. “Why wait for eight months? No reason,” he said.
Omicron Has Lower Risk of Hospitalization (6:19 a.m. NY)
South Africans contracting Covid in the current fourth wave of infections are 80% less likely to be hospitalized if they catch the omicron variant, compared with other strains, according to a study released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Once admitted to the hospital, the risk of severe disease doesn’t differ from other variants, the authors said.
Omicron Found in Europe’s Wastewater (6:02 a.m. NY)
Omicron was detected in wastewater from a dozen European municipalities and industrial sites in December, providing an additional early warning system for coronavirus variants, according to Veolia Environnement SA.
Detection methods for new strains can be rolled out within two weeks of their identification, the French company and its partners said in a statement Wednesday. Their surveillance system called Vigie Covid-19 is being used alongside clinical data and can serve as a new pandemic indicator, they said.
UAE Cases Up Tenfold Since Omicron Case (6:59 p.m. HK)
The United Arab Emirates recorded 665 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, a tenfold increase since the start of the month, when the gulf nation reported its first case of the omicron variant. The government has acknowledged the increase, but said hospitalizations remain low.
Poland Deaths at Highest Since April (6:02 p.m. HK)
Poland registered 775 deaths in last 24 hours, the highest daily toll highest since April. The Health Ministry said infections are starting to fall, a sign the peak of current wave has passed, and rejected calls for harsher restrictions. The country’s hospitals remain crammed with over 23,000 Covid patients before an expected omicron wave.
Biden to Ramp Up Purchase of 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 (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 (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’.
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.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
