(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. said it will buy millions more antiviral pills from Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. as it seeks to combat the surge in omicron infections. The country’s vaccine panel also cleared Pfizer’s shot for use in vulnerable young children to widen coverage against the variant.
South Africans contracting the disease 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
NYC Public Hospitals to Ban Most Visitors (10:40 a.m. NY)
New York City’s public hospitals said on Wednesday that the system would begin banning most visitors amid the Covid spike, spurred by a recent outbreak in one of the hospitals. The visitation rules won’t be as restrictive as they were during the height of the pandemic in 2020 as women in labor, children and hospice patients will still be able to receive visitors.
Czech Cabinet Tightens Rules (10:17 a.m. NY)
The Czech government limite the size of audiences at public events and announced stricter rules around the New Year’s to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Health Minister Vlastimil Valek said. Cultural and other public events can have maximum 1,000 people seated or 100 standing attendees.
Nets Game in Portland Postponed (10:15 a.m. NY)
Mayor-Elect to Keep NYC Health Chief (10:06 a.m. NY)
Eric Adams will keep Dave Chokshi as New York City’s chief health official, a sign the mayor-elect seeks to maintain continuity with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pandemic response against a backdrop of surging Covid cases, according to a person familiar with the decision who was unauthorized to speak publicly.
Mauritius Vaccination Validity Now 6 Months (10:06 a.m. NY)
Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation with 72% of population having completed inoculation, amended the conditions to be considered as fully vaccinated, according to Health and Wellness minister Kailesh Jagutpal.
The status will now be valid for six months. To be considered once again as fully vaccinated, the person should get a booster dose within four to six months after the second jab or single shot of Johnson & Johnson. These new measures will be effective as from Jan. 15., Jagutpal told reporters in Port Louis, the capital, on Wednesday.
So far, there are 174,854 people who have been administered with a booster dose, representing about 14% of the population.
Austria’s Curbs Seek to Save Ski Season (9:38 a.m. NY)
Austria will restrict quarantine-free travel from the U.K., Netherlands, Norway and Denmark and only allow in select travelers as it balances between containing the pandemic and salvaging its ski season.
Only people who’ve had a booster shot and can show a negative coronavirus test will be allowed to enter the Alpine nation from those countries without self-isolation, Austria’s coronavirus task force said on Wednesday. The measure stops short of a de facto entry ban that has applied to other high-risk countries, and leaves a window for travel to support winter tourism.
Amazon Limits Sales of At-Home Tests (9:35 a.m. NY)
Amazon is placing a 10-unit limit on the amount of at-home Amazon brand PCR tests a customer can order amid a surge in demand for tests due to the omicron variant, CNBC reported, citing a spokesperson.
U.K. Backs Shot for At-Risk Kids (9:30 a.m. NY)
The U.K. vaccines panel cleared the Pfizer shot for use in vulnerable young children to widen vaccination coverage against the omicron variant.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation changed its advice to allow at-risk children aged 5 to 11 years old to become eligible for two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Each inoculation will be one-third of the adult dose.
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.
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.
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