Covid-19 has infected more than 264M people and killed over 5.2M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Friday, December 3, 2021
Australia reports first locally transmitted Omicron cases
Australia has reported three students at a Sydney school have tested positive for the Covid-19 Omicron variant, the country's first cases of community transmission of the new strain.
Health officials said there were 10 additional suspected Omicron cases at the school that are urgently being confirmed, raising the spectre of widespread infection.
The cluster comes despite a ban on non-citizens entering the country and restrictions on flights from southern Africa, where the variant was first detected.
New South Wales Health said the first case had "no overseas travel history or links to people with overseas travel history" raising the alarm.
Australia had previously detected several other Omicron cases, but all were found in incoming travellers who quarantined.
Australia currently records around 2,000 Covid cases a day.
At least 17 suspected Omicron cases after Oslo party
At least 17 people who came down with Covid-19 after a Christmas party gathering over 100 guests in Oslo last week are suspected of having the Omicron variant, city officials said.
"So far 60 people have tested positive (for Covid) with PCR tests, and four with antigen tests. Seventeen are probably Omicron, but that has yet to be confirmed. So far, one case is confirmed to be Omicron after sequencing," the city of Oslo said in a statement.
Between 100 and 120 people – all of whom were vaccinated, and one of whom had recently travelled to southern Africa – had gath ered last Friday for a Christmas party organised by their employer.
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Malaysia detects first case of Omicron variant
Malaysia has detected the country's first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
It was detected in a foreign visitor from South Africa who arrived in Malaysia via Singapore on November 19, he said.
SKorea tightens restrictions amid virus surge
South Korea is tightening recently relaxed restrictions on social gatherings as it grapples with its worst wave of the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Starting next week, private social gatherings of seven or more people will be banned in densely populated capital Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, which have been hit hardest by a delta-driven spread that threatens to overwhelm hospital capacities.
Gatherings will be capped to eight people in areas outside the capital region, officials said Friday.
Adults will also be required to verify their vaccination status through apps to use restaurants, movie theaters, museums, libraries, and other indoor venues.
Most of these venues will admit only fully vaccinated adults, while restaurants and coffee shops will be allowed to accept one adult in each group who isn't fully vaccinated or vaccinated at all.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 4,944 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, a day after South Korea set a one-day record of 5,266 new cases.
The country's death toll is now at 3,739 after reporting 30 to 50 deaths each day in recent weeks.
US reports Omicron cases in multiple states
Hawaii has found a case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, officials said, becoming the fifth US state to detect the variant and bringing the total number of reported infections in the country to nine.
Omicron coronavirus variant was confirmed in an unvaccinated Hawaii resident with no recent travel history.
Hawaii Epidemiologist Dr Sarah Kemble said that the adult had been infected with Covid-19 a year ago, isn't currently hospitalised and had "mild-to-moderate" symptoms including headache, body aches and cough.
Earlier, New York reported five such cases.
Three other US states have found cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant –– California, Colorado and Minnesota –– among patients who were fully vaccinated and developed mild symptoms, health officials said.
China sees nearly 100 new Covid cases
China reported 96 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Dec. 2, from 73 a day earlier, its health authority said on Friday.
Of the new infections, 80 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 53 a day earlier.
China reported 24 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, compared with 13 a day earlier.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636. As of Dec. 2, mainland China had 98,993 confirmed cases.
UK 'fails to protect' Covid loans against frauds
Britain's government has failed to guard properly against fraud in its $63 billion Covid emergency lending programme for small businesses, opening itself up to billions of pounds of losses, a watchdog has warned.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme launched in May 2020 and did not conduct credit checks or fully verify the identity of small businesses applying for loans, the National Audit Office, which scrutinises public-sector spending, said.
The government launched the scheme to stop the collapse of small businesses which had to cease trading due to tight lockdown restrictions at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March, Britain's business ministry, which ran the programme via the British Business Bank, a state lender, estimated that 37 percent of the loans would not be repaid and that 11percent came from fraudulent applications.
UN biodiversity summit postponed due to Omicron scare
The second part of UN biodiversity summit COP15, set to take place in Switzerland in January, has been postponed over the new coronavirus variant Omicron, organisers have said.
"Uncertainties posed by the Omicron variant and resulting travel measures and restrictions" have forced physical meetings to be postponed, they said in a statement.
The Geneva meeting originally supposed to take place from January 18 to 22 could instead be moved to March.
In a sign of Omicron's threat, about 2,000 people, including 1,600 children, have been placed in quarantine after two cases of the variant were found on one of the campuses of the renowned International School of Geneva, Swiss health authorities said.
Dozens infected in Norway with Omicron variant
Officials in Norway said at least 50 people in Oslo have been infected with the omicron variant. The cases are connected to a company’s recent Christmas party in a restaurant in the capital, officials said.
The Oslo Municipality said in a statement that more cases are expected. Officials are trying to trace transmission routes from the party.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill and whether it can thwart vaccines.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said that those affected live in Oslo and surrounding municipalities.
Australia reports first Omicron case
Australia has reported its first community transmission of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, but authorities held steady on a plan to reopen the economy amid hopes it would prove to be milder than previous strains.
The new case, a school student from Sydney, was the first confirmed Omicron infection of a person who had not travelled overseas, a sign the variant was now in the community, authorities in New South Wales state said.
"Transmission is always a concern but we again need to keep it in perspective," NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told reporters, explaining why Australia's most populous state was not reversing its staged reopening from strict lockdowns imposed in July due to the Delta variant.
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(With input from news agency language)
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