(Bloomberg) — Two years after reports of a mysterious pneumonia first emerged in Wuhan, the pandemic shows no signs of slowing, with the fast-spreading omicron variant pushing worldwide Covid-19 cases above 1 million for a second straight day.
Covid hospitalizations are spiking from New South Wales to New York state, pressuring health systems. Overall, however, omicron appears to be triggering a lower rate of hospitalizations than earlier outbreaks, and a U.K. immunologist said the latest variant is not “the same disease we were seeing a year ago.”
Rapid tests that are widely used to detect infections may miss some cases caused by omicron, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. An outbreak in China’s Xi’an eased after cases hit a record a day earlier, as residents have been asked to stay indoors and driving is banned.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases top 282 million; deaths reach 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9 billion shots given
- Errors, inaction sent a deadly Covid variant around the world
- Omicron leaves Biden struggling for message as data roll in
- Flight attendants scorn CDC guidelines matching airlines’ plea
- What Covid therapies exist, and what omicron changes: QuickTake
South Korea May Extend Virus Curbs (2:41 p.m. HK)
South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party and the government share a view that extending strengthened social distancing rules would be needed, a ruling party spokesperson said. It will take time for indicators, such as the intensive care beds utilization rate and critical cases, to improve.
South Korea reimposed tighter virus curbs, including cutting business hours of restaurants, movie theaters and coffee shops, on Dec. 18. The government will decide on Friday whether to extend the rules, which will expire on Jan. 2.
Vietnam to Limit Initial Japan, U.S. Flights (1:52 p.m. HK)
Vietnam plans to initially limit the resumption of regular international flights to routes between the Southeast Asian country and Japan and the U.S. in early January, Tien Phong newspaper reported, citing the civil aviation authority.
Earlier this month the government said it would resume some international flights beginning Jan. 1 under a pilot program. The aviation authority is in discussions with counterparts in other countries about reopening Vietnam further by establishing quick Covid 19 tests at foreign airports, the newspaper reported.
China’s Covid Rules Led Fugitive to Surrender (1:16 p.m HK)
A Chinese man sought by the police for three years turned himself in after being unable to withstand the restrictions on life amid the government’s Covid-19 curbs.
A 42-year-old man gave himself up to the local police in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Dec. 24 after he suffered severe travel restrictions because he didn’t have a health code, according to a report posted on Hangzhou police’s WeChat account. The man was involved in a racketeering case and escaped from the police in 2018, the report said, without giving his name.
Confined to a hiding place, the man experienced increased mental stress and deteriorating health, the report said.
Rapid Tests May Miss Omicron: FDA (12:17 p.m. HK)
Rapid tests that are being widely used to detect Covid-19 infections in minutes may miss some cases caused by the omicron variant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
Early laboratory data suggest antigen tests do detect infections caused by omicron, though they may have a reduced sensitivity, the agency said. The results come from an examination of the tests by the National Institutes of Health that used live virus samples, the best way to evaluate their true performance.
Previous work showed the currently available antigen tests were just as accurate when finding omicron as earlier strains of the virus, though the researchers used heat-inactivated samples that yield less precise results. Clinical studies are underway to definitively determine how effective the diagnostic tests are, the agency said.
Until the findings are available, the tests will continue to be available and should be used as directed, the FDA said.
China’s Xi’an Sees Infections Moderate (11:32 a.m. HK)
Covid-19 cases in the western Chinese city of Xi’an eased after hitting a record high a day earlier. Xi’an reported 151 infections on Wednesday, down from 175 on Tuesday. The outbreak spread from a few dozen cases in early December to roughly 150 a day after the city was locked down last Thursday, the most dramatic curb China has enacted to stymie Covid since closing off Wuhan and the broader Hubei province in January 2020.
Shot Safe for Kids, Pregnant Women: Sinovac (10:06 a.m. HK)
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. said results of a Phase III clinical study of its inactivated vaccine CoronaVac in South Africa indicated that it’s safe for children from 6 months to 17 years. The Chinese company also said that the shot showed good safety in pregnant and postpartum women.
The results are part of a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial being held in South Africa, Chile, Malaysia, the Philippines and Kenya.
Hospitalization Data Show Mixed Picture (7:13 a.m. HK)
Hospitalizations are spiking from New South Wales to New York state, but the larger picture shows the omicron variant appears to be triggering less severe reactions than earlier outbreaks.
Hospitalization due to coronavirus in Australia’s most-populous state hit the highest level since mid-October. New South Wales on Wednesday recorded 11,201 new Covid cases, up 87% from the previous day’s figure. A total of 625 people in the state, which includes Sydney, are in the hospital, including 61 in intensive-care units.
In New York state, Covid hospitalizations are accelerating at a rate that hasn’t been seen since the early days of the pandemic. On Tuesday the state said hospitalizations rose by 647 to 6,173, marking the largest daily increase since early April 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
But the total number of New Yorkers hospitalized with the virus remains far below last year’s peak of almost 19,000. And overall, hospitalization rates across the U.S. are lower than earlier waves, more evidence that the highly transmissible variant leads to milder symptoms than other strains. U.S. hospitalizations rose to a seven-day average of 8,964 on Sunday, only half their earlier peak recorded in January.
China’s Plane-Cleaning Rule Spurs U.S. Talks (6:45 a.m. HK)
Talks are underway between the U.S. and China on possible changes to the Chinese government’s new aircraft-cleaning requirements that prompted a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight to turn back to Seattle and that could trigger the cancellation of some flights to the Asian nation.
The discussions were confirmed Tuesday by a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The new sanitation mandates — spurred by the spread of Covid-19 — significantly extend the time planes are on the ground and largely copy steps that U.S. airlines already take to clean between flights, representatives for the industry said. There also is a shortage of available workers to carry out the added steps, they said.
The new requirements are part of the changes that countries and industries are making to try to slow the spread of the highly contagious omicron coronavirus variant.
Argentina Battling Another Wave (5:10 p.m. NY)
Argentina reported 33,902 Covid cases Tuesday, the most since a daily record reached June 18, amid a budding third wave of the pandemic.
The country also reported 20 deaths, a pace that’s remained steady and below three digits since September, according to data from the public health department. Cases in Argentina have been rising steadily since mid-December.
CDC Sees Shorter Incubation Period for Omicron (1 p.m. NY)
Omicron may have a shorter incubation period and may be more likely to cause reinfections than other strains, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The agency’s findings are based on a six-person household in Nebraska, which included one person who was fully vaccinated, four previously infected people, and one person who tested positive for the first time.
The median time from infection to the appearance of symptoms among the group was about three days, the researchers said. That’s shorter than the five days or more that was estimated for other variants. People with confirmed prior infections said their symptoms were similar to or milder than before, the CDC said.
Omicron Estimated at 59% in U.S. (11:30 a.m. NY)
The omicron variant is causing an increasing share of coronavirus infections in the U.S., though its climb to dominance has been shallower than earlier estimates indicated, according to an updated federal model.
Omicron accounted for an estimated 58.6% of sequenced U.S. virus cases in the week ending Dec. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Nowcast model showed Tuesday, up from an estimated 22.5% a week earlier. The once-dominant delta variant accounted for 41.1% of cases in the most recent period, according to the CDC.
The week-earlier figure marks a substantial revision from a previous estimate, which said the omicron variant was responsible for 73% of sequenced infections.
NYC to Double School Testing (10:20 a.m. NY)
New York City will double Covid testing in schools when students return, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
De Blasio and Governor Kathy Hochul both spoke at a virus briefing of the importance of bringing students back to school in January, for kids and for parents. Schools are the “safest places to be in New York City,” de Blasio said.
U.S. Senator Urges Halt to Cruises (9:13 a.m. NY)
Cruise ships are “repeating recent history as petri dishes of Covid-19 infection,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said, urging the companies and health agencies to curb operations.
Cruise line operators like Carnival Corp. have implemented Covid-19 safeguards, such as masking and proof of vaccination. Still, the fast-spreading omicron variant triggered reports of ships being turned away at the ports due to infections on board.
U.K. Adviser Upbeat on Outlook (6:33 a.m. NY)
Omicron is “not the same disease we were seeing a year ago” and high Covid death rates in the U.K. are “now history”, according to John Bell, a Oxford University professor advising the government. Although hospitalizations have increased in recent weeks along with Omicron’s spread, the disease “appears to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital,” the Guardian newspaper cited Bell as saying. Fewer patients need high-flow oxygen and the average length of stay was down to three days, he said.
(Previous versions were corrected for superlatives of Australia hospitalizations and cases in Argentina.)
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