Tag: Omicron Covid-19 Variant

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 UK News

Britain lifts Omicron curbs

England previously lifted restrictions on July 19, so-called “Freedom Day”, but then introduced new rules as the Omicron wave arrived…reports Asian Lite News

England on Thursday lifted coronavirus restrictions imposed to tackle the Omicron variant, with masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.

The number of positive Covid-19 cases has fallen sharply over the past two weeks, and although still at high levels, have plateaued in recent days.

The UK government introduced the so-called “Plan B” restrictions on December 8, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a looming “tidal wave” of Omicron.

Face masks were required in all enclosed spaces and, controversially, vaccine documentation also was to enter places such as nightclubs, football grounds and large-scale events.

On the streets of London around St Paul’s Cathedral, there was general support for the lifting of restrictions, which comes after more than 37 million people had booster jabs.

England previously lifted restrictions on July 19, so-called “Freedom Day”, but then introduced new rules as the Omicron wave arrived.

Health minister Sajid Javid credited the country’s booster programme for allowing restrictions to be lifted.

“Our vaccines, testing and antivirals ensure we have some of the strongest defences in Europe and are allowing us to cautiously return to Plan A, restoring more freedoms to this country,” he said.

From Thursday, passengers on London’s transport network will still be required to wear face masks but they will no longer be mandatory in secondary school classrooms.

“It was traumatic for them, they couldn’t hear the teachers, the teachers couldn’t hear them,” Hynes said of the mask rules in school.

But businesses still took a heavy hit as punters stayed at home.

Hospitality workers in the business district around St Paul’s said things had only just started to improve.

Johnson said he also hopes to scrap those rules when they expire on March 24.

ALSO READ-Biden admin withdraws Covid testing mandate for businesses

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 UK News

Getting boosted is the best thing right now: Javid

Javid’s remarks came after two major incidents were declared in England due to pressures caused by the Omicron variant’s spread….reports Asian Lite News

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that there will be a “rocky few weeks ahead” for the National Health Service (NHS) as Covid cases continue to soar in the country.

Speaking during a visit to a hospital in London, Javid said these are “challenging times” for the health service and the “best thing” people can do is get their booster jab, reports Xinhua news agency.

Javid’s remarks came after two major incidents were declared in England due to pressures caused by the Omicron variant’s spread.

“We know now that Omicron is less severe and we certainly know that once you get boosted that your chance of hospitalisation, our latest analysis shows, is almost 90 per cent less than it was with Delta,” he said.

The UK reported another 178,250 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 14,279,785, according to official figures.

The country also reported a further 229 deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 150,222, with 18,454 patients still in hospital.

Some 200 Armed Forces personnel are being deployed to support the NHS in London as hospitals grapple with staff shortages, according to Sky News.

The Royal College of Nursing has said the deployment means the government can no longer deny there is a “staffing crisis” within the NHS.

More than 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 82 per cent were fully inoculated, according to the latest figures.

More than 61 per cent have received booster jabs.

ALSO READ: Canada to Give Asylum to Female Afghan judges

Categories
-Top News UK News

Omicron hospitalisations may surpass 2nd wave in UK

Data from recent Scotland study suggested Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in risk of hospitalisation when compared with Delta….reports Asian Lite News

 The UK National Health Service can avoid becoming overwhelmed only if the Omicron variant turns out to be five to 10 times milder than Delta, according to new modelling.

But if Omicron turns out to be just half as severe as Delta, UK hospitalisations could exceed those seen at the peak of the second wave, suggested the study by the University of Warwick.

“Under these assumptions of no additional control (beyond Plan B), and even assuming omicron is just 10 per cent the severity of delta it is still highly likely that hospital admissions will peak above 1,500 per day,” the authors were quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

“If we assume that Omicron is as severe as Delta then admissions will be an order of magnitude larger, peaking at around 27,000 admissions.”

Data from recent Scotland study suggested Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in risk of hospitalisation when compared with Delta.

A separate study by Imperial College London looking also suggested people with PCR-confirmed Omicron infection were 15 to 20 per cent less likely to require hospitalisation.

But, the Warwick authors noted that assuming the Omicron is 100 per cent as severe as Delta represents a “reasonable worst case”, the researchers said.

They also cautioned that if the time it takes Omicron to become symptomatic is shorter than with Delta, as it is now strongly suspected, would radically alter their results for the better.

“If the generation time of Omicron was half that of Delta, once the model is recalibrated… this would approximately halve the predicted peak outbreak sizes”, they said.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number peaked at 34,336 on January 18.

As of Sunday, the UK has registered a total of 13,174,528 Covid-19 cases and 149,251 deaths.

ALSO READ: Vaccines still effective against Omicron: WHO chief scientist

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 UK News

Masks back in UK classrooms

Britain reported another 137,583 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 13,309,651…reports Asian Lite News

Secondary school students in England are once again being asked to wear masks in classrooms as the Omicron Covid-19 variant continues to spread in the UK ahead of children’s return to school next week.

The recommendation came as the government pledges to keep face-to-face education going despite surging Covid-19 infections in England, reports Xinhua news agency.

Masks will “maximise the number of children in school” for the “maximum amount of time”, said the government, stressing the “temporary” guidance for schools and colleges will be reviewed on January 26 when Plan B regulations, which involve guidance to work from home and mandatory face masks in most public indoor venues among others, are scheduled to expire.

Britain reported another 137,583 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 13,309,651, according to official figures.

The country also reported a 73 more fatalities, taking the national death toll to 149,324.

More than 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first vaccine dose, and over 82 per cent were fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures.

Some 59 per cent have received a booster dose.

ALSO READ: UK donates over 4 million vaccine doses to Bangladesh

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 World News

Omicron, Delta forming tsunami of cases: WHO

Global Covid caseload tops 279.9 mn

Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases…reports Asian Lite News

 The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems.

Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said at a press briefing that he’s “highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta — is leading to a tsunami of cases.”

Botswana achieves WHO Covid-19 vaccination target

“This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods,” he added, citing the pressure as not only new Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalisation but also a large number of health workers getting sick themselves.

Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases, Xinhua news agency reported.

“But we are undermining the other side at the same time — it could be dangerous… we shouldn’t undermine the bad news just focusing on the good news,” he said.

“We don’t want people to be complacent, saying this is not severe, this is mild. And we have to be very careful in that narrative,” he added.

According to Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, though Omicron looks like being more transmissible, having a shorter incubation period, and causing a mild disease, it’s based on the largely young population that the variant has been infecting.

Since the Omicron wave has not been fully established in the broader population, Ryan said he’s “a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in the older and more vulnerable populations.”

“I think it’s really important over the coming weeks that we keep suppressing transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can,” he added.

ALSO READ: Omicron a concern but unlikely to hinder aviation’s 2022 flight

Categories
-Top News COVID-19

Omicron rewrites world records

Israel bans travel to ten more countries over Omicron scare

More than 11,500 international flights have been cancelled across the globe amid reports of record surge in the new cases of the variant….reports Asian Lite News

Sounding an alarming bugle about what may be in store for the humanity with the Omicron surge, the daily global Covid-19 cases at 1.44 million has crossed a prior daily record of infections in December 2020, when Turkey had backdated a significant number of positive cases.

The seven-day average of Covid cases was nearly 841,000 on Monday, a 49 per cent rise from November 24 when Omicron was first identified in Africa.

More than 11,500 international flights have been cancelled across the globe amid reports of record surge in the new cases of the variant.

The UK is currently reporting more than 100,000 new infections a day.

Abu Dhabi tightens Covid rules at social events

Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris has announced tighter restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 as the daily number of new cases has surged to an all-time high in the country.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex and Health Minister Olivier Veran have announced a series of new measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 during the New Year festivities and urged their countrymen to respect the preventive measures during the celebrations.

Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has issued a nationwide level 3 warning after 514 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been detected.

The new Omicron variant has driven a winter surge in Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths across the US, with daily infections reaching a record high since January.

The country is averaging more than 176,000 new cases daily, according to the latest data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nearly 300,000 new cases were reported on Monday, a new high since January 8 this year.

Global Covid caseload tops 279.9 mn

Currently, the US is witnessing about 1,200 new deaths from Covid-19 each day, CDC data showed.

The Omicron variant has taken the place of the Delta variant to become the most prevalent variant in the country.

Health officials have been warning that the Omicron variant will continue to overwhelm hospitals and healthcare workers.

The Omicron variant has derailed holiday plans for many Americans who are travelling. Over 1,000 flights in the country were cancelled on Monday amid the Omicron surge.

Canada reported 18,230 new Covid-19 cases, elevating the cumulative total to 2,026,249 cases with 30,172 deaths, according to CTV.

The Omicron infection tally has risen to 653 across India. However, of the total cases, 186 have been discharged from hospitals. So far, 21 states have reported Omicron infections.

Australia reported its biggest daily COVID-19 total on Monday, along with its first known death from Omicron.

In just one month, 108 countries have reported over 151,368 Omicron cases and there have been over 26 deaths.

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shortened the isolation time for Americans infected with Covid-19 from 10 to five days.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 281.3 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.40 million and vaccinations to over 8.97 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 281,368,071 and 5,406,197, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 8,972,162,735.

ALSO READ: Biden’s mammoth defence bill targets China

Categories
-Top News COVID-19

Gates Warns Omicron Threat At Homes

Microsoft co-founder said that he has cancelled most of his holiday plans as his close friends are increasingly being infected with the Covid-19 virus….reports Asian Lite News

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that humanity “could be entering the worst part of the pandemic” as the Omicron variant spreads fast across the globe, stressing that Omicron will “hit home for all of us”.

In a series of tweets, Gates said that he has cancelled most of his holiday plans as his close friends are increasingly being infected with the Covid-19 virus.

“Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve cancelled most of my holiday plans,” Gates tweeted late on Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already said that “an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” in the wake of Omicron spread.

In the US, Omicron is now dominant, accounting for 73 per cent of new infections.

“Omicron is spreading faster than any virus in history. It will soon be in every country in the world,” Gates said.

“The big unknown is how sick omicron makes you. We need to take it seriously until we know more about it. Even if it’s only half as severe as Delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it’s so infectious,” he posted.

Amid mounting cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19, scientists in the UK have called for urgent rules, warning that waiting till New Year to enforce the measures may be “too late”.

Israel bans travel to ten more countries over Omicron scare

The UK has so far recorded over 37,000 confirmed cases of Omicron, with a majority of cases detected in the last two-three days, and 12 deaths.

In India, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the new Covid variant Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Gates said that if there’s good news here, it’s that Omicron moves so quickly that once it becomes dominant in a country, the wave there should last less than 3 months.

“Those few months could be bad, but I still believe if we take the right steps, the pandemic can be over in 2022,” he said in a tweet.

ALSO READ: Global Covid caseload tops 276.2 mn

Categories
-Top News China

Sinovac claims its booster shot is 94% efficient against Omicron

The company’s findings are in contrast with those released on Tuesday in a preprint paper by the HKU researchers….reports Asian Lite News

China’s biotech firm Sinovac claimed that a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is 94 per cent effective against the Omicron variant of the COVID-19.

This comes a day after a study found that the two doses of the vaccine failed to generate any detectable antibody response against the fast-spreading variant.

The study was conducted by the company on 20 people who received two shots and another 48 who received three shots. Seven in the first group and 45 in the second tested positive in neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, the company said in a statement to the Global Times.

Sinovac said that the data demonstrated that the administration of a booster shot of its vaccine can effectively enhance the vaccine’s neutralizing capacity to the Omicron variant, read the statement.

The company’s findings are in contrast with those released on Tuesday in a preprint paper by the HKU researchers.

The university study also examined neutralising antibodies, one arm of immune response that serves as a rough marker for protection against infection.

Of 25 people who received a full two-dose course of CoronaVac, none were found to have detectable levels of neutralising antibodies, according to study author and top infectious disease expert Yuen Kwok-yung and his team.

The Omicron variant, first discovered in early November, has been reported in 77 countries and regions, according to the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, Sinovac and Sinopharm are China’s leading vaccine makers, and both manufactures are not preferred ones in countries that have access to others, according to Voice of America.

Dr. Andrea Cox, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a special interest in immunization, has provided expert advice on COVID-19 vaccines.

“Chinese vaccines are not as effective as the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, so they aren’t the preferred jabs in countries that have access to the others,” he said.

“That scientist takes a type of bacteria — or in this case, a virus — and inactivate or kill it. They then inject it into people. Because the virus is dead, it can’t infect anyone. Then, if a vaccinated person is exposed to the live virus, that person’s body recognizes it and fights it off, ” he added.

The hnsays the Sinovac vaccine is about 50% effective, while Sinopharm’s effectiveness is higher, at 78%, World Health Organization reported.

Earlier, World Health Organization says safe and effective vaccines are a game-changing tool, but it recommends continued mask-wearing, frequent hand-washing, good indoor ventilation, physical distancing and avoiding crowds, Further, it recommends getting, getting vaccinated. (ANI)

ALSO READ: CHINESE DEBT TRAP: Pakistan Goes Lanka Way

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 UK News

More cases of Omicron Detected in UK

So far, 22 cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in England and 10 in Scotland…reports Asian Lite News

Another nine cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in England and one in Scotland, bringing the total number of people with the strain identified in Britain to 32, Health authorities have confirmed.

So far, 22 cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in England and 10 in Scotland, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said on Wednesday.

Jenny Harries, UKHSA Chief Executive, said, “It is very likely that we will find more cases over the coming days, as we are seeing in other countries globally and as we increase case detection through focused contact tracing.”

“That’s why it’s critical that anyone with Covid-19 symptoms isolates and gets a PCR test immediately,” Harries added.

Britain registered 48,374 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 10,276,007, according to the latest official figures.

The country also reported a further 171 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 145,140. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 88 per cent of people aged 12 years and over in Britain have had their first vaccine dose, and over 80 per cent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. Nearly 32 per cent have received a booster jab, or the third dose.

ALSO READ: Omicron fear grips UK as tally rises

Categories
-Top News COVID-19 UK News

Omicron fear grips UK as tally rises

It comes after authorities confirmed six cases were found in Scotland earlier on Monday in addition to the three detected in England over the weekend…reports Asian Lite News

Another two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in London, bringing the total number of people with the strain identified in Britain to 11, British Health authorities have confirmed.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the latest two cases in London have links to travel in southern Africa. The two people are not connected to each other and are not linked to the previously confirmed cases, it added.

It comes after authorities confirmed six cases were found in Scotland earlier on Monday in addition to the three detected in England over the weekend, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, John Swinney, Deputy first Minister of Scotland, has confirmed there is no travel history in “some” of these cases.

That suggests there has been at least a level of community transmission, which makes controlling the variant more difficult.

Meanwhile, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed on Monday that he’s accepted the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation’s recommendation on boosters, including booster jabs for everybody over the age of 18 years, shortening the gap between a second jab and a booster from six months to three months and giving a second jab to children aged between 12 and 15-years-old — again after no less than three months.

Britain registered 42,583 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,146,915, according to official figures released on Monday.

The country also reported a further 35 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 144,810. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 88 per cent of people aged 12 years and above in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 80 per cent have received both doses, according to the latest figures. More than 30 per cent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the US have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

ALSO READ: Omicron patients show extreme tiredness, no major oxygen drop