Palestine concerned over detection of Omicron variant in Israel
Palestine has expressed deep concerns over the spread of the new Covid-19 variant, known as B.1.1.529 or Omicron after Israel announced it had detected its first such case…reports Asian Lite News
The Palestinian Health Ministry will recommend that the government authorities tighten procedures at crossing points and borders as a precautionary measure, Kamal al-Shakhra, a spokesman of the ministry, said in a press statement on Saturday.
Al-Shakhra said, “The danger of the new variant lies in the rapid spread” and that the ministry of health and its workers “are ready to take the necessary measures to confront the new variant.”
Palestine concerned over detection of Omicron variant in Israel
He also said that in cooperation with concerned authorities, the health ministry has identified the areas in the West Bank popular with foreign tourists, especially the cities of Bethlehem and Jericho, as Christmas approaches, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Medical teams will conduct tests in all the places they frequent to limit the spread of the virus,” al-Shakhra added.
On Friday, Israeli media reported that the Israeli health ministry recorded the country’s first case of Omicron. The variant was discovered in a genomic sequencing test of an Israeli who returned from Malawi, the ministry said.
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 261.46 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.19 million and vaccination to over 7.60 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University…reports Asian Lite News
In its latest update on Monday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 261,460,688 and 5,199,456 respectively. And the total number of vaccine doses administered was 7,602,216,580.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 48,229,210 and 776,639, respectively according to the CSSE.
Global Covid caseload tops 261.46 mn
The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,572,523 infections and 468,554 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,080,906 infections and 614,278 deaths).
The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (10,202,370), Russia (9,403,480), Turkey (8,748,025), France (7,723,032), Iran (6,108,882), Germany (5,804,139), Argentina (5,326,448), Spain (5,131,012) and Colombia (5,065,373), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (293,859), Russia (267,527), Peru (201,071), the UK (145,218), Indonesia (143,808), Italy (133,674), Iran (129,629), Colombia (128,437), France (119,875) and Argentina (116,529).
With the Omicron variant now present in all provinces of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has raised the possibility that the country could enter the fourth wave soon if new cases continue to increase…reports Asian Lite News
“The identification of Omicron coincides with a sudden increase in Covid-19 infections. If cases continue to rise, we can expect to see a fourth wave of infection in the next few weeks, if not sooner,” Ramaphosa said in his televised speech on Sunday evening.
His address to the nation followed a meeting of the Coronavirus Command Council after scientists recently discovered the new variant, Xinhua news agency reported.
S. African President warns about fourth wave as Omicron spreads
“We have seen an average of 1,600 new cases in the last seven days, compared to just 500 new daily cases in the previous week, and 275 new daily cases the week before that. The proportion of Covid-19 tests that are positive has risen from around 2 to 9 per cent in less than a week,” the President added.
“This is an extremely sharp increase in infections in a short period of time.”
“We know that the variant is responsible for most of the infections found in Gauteng in the last two weeks and is now emerging in all other provinces,” he said.
Given that only 35 per cent of the adult population has been fully vaccinated so far and there is still a lot of hesitation to vaccinate, Ramaphosa announced that a working group has been set up to discuss the possibility of making vaccines mandatory to access public places such as public transport, workplaces, public events and public facilities.
“Government has set up a working group that will consult widely on the introduction of compulsory vaccination in certain activities and places,” he added.
The task force will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Immunisation, chaired by Deputy President David Mabuza, which will make recommendations to the Cabinet.
He said the first and the most powerful tool that mankind has is vaccination.
“Vaccination is by far the most important way to protect yourself and those around you against the Omicron variant, to reduce the impact of the fourth wave and to help restore the social freedoms we all yearn for,” he added.
“Vaccination is also vital to the return of our economy to full operation, to the resumption of travel and the recovery of vulnerable sectors like tourism and hospitality.”
Ramaphosa said the Covid-19 virus, like all viruses, does mutate and form new variants. The likelihood of the emergence of more severe forms of variants is increased significantly where people are not vaccinated.
“That is why we have joined many countries, organisations and people around the world who have been fighting for equal access to vaccines for everyone,” he added.
“We have said that vaccine inequality not only costs lives and livelihoods in those countries that are denied access, but that it also threatens global efforts to overcome the pandemic. The emergence of the Omicron variant should be a wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue.”
The variant, believed to be more infectious than all previous strains, was first detected in South Africa and flagged as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation…reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
Amid concerns over the highly transmissible Covid variant Omicron, the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has announced booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech and Sputnik vaccines for all residents aged 18 and over.
UAE offers booster jab for all amid Omicron scare
The variant, believed to be more infectious than all previous strains, was first detected in South Africa and flagged as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organisation on Friday.
Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has also announced booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for all residents aged 18 and over.
The booster doses can be taken six months after the second dose. Previously, only some categories of residents were eligible for Pfizer and Sputnik booster shots, the Khaleej Times reported.
Sinopharm booster shots are available to eligible residents six months after the second dose.
Meanwhile, the ministry has announced that 17,208 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered during the past 24 hours.
The total number of doses provided up to Sunday stands at 21,835,103 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 220.77 doses per 100 people.
The vaccination drive is in line with the ministry’s plan to provide the vaccine to all members of society and acquire immunity, which will help reduce the number of cases and control the spread of the virus, it said.
Meanwhile, the ministry announced that it conducted 284,985 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours, using state-of-the-art medical testing equipment.
In a statement on Sunday, it stressed its aim to continue expanding the scope of testing nationwide to facilitate the early detection of coronavirus cases and carry out the necessary treatment. As part of its intensified testing campaign, MoHAP announced 60 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 741,918.
According to the ministry, the infected individuals are from various nationalities, are in a stable condition, and receiving the necessary care.
It also reported one death due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 2,146.
It called on all members of the society to cooperate with health authorities, adhere to the instructions and physical distance to ensure the health and safety of all.
MoHAP also noted that an additional 79 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 736,778.
WHO says ‘still not clear’
It is not yet clear whether the Omicron Covid-19 variant is more transmissible, or causes more severe disease compared to other variants, including Delta, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
It’s not yet clear whether Omicron is more easily spread from person to person compared to other variants, even though the number of people testing positive has risen in South Africa where this variant was involved, the WHO on Sunday added.
It’s also not yet clear whether Omicron causes more severe disease, but preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalisation in South Africa, which however may be due to increasing overall number of people becoming infected, Xinhua news agency reported.
WHO confirmed that there is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants, as understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks.
All variants of Covid-19, including the Delta variant that is currently dominant worldwide, can cause severe disease or death, in particular for the most vulnerable people, and thus prevention is always key.
However, WHO said preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of reinfection with Omicron but information is limited. More information on this will become available in the coming days and weeks.
It added that current PCR tests continue to detect Omicron while further studies are still going on to understand how the Omicron variant will impact on available vaccines and treatments to Covid-19.
WHO classified on Friday the latest variant B.1.1.529 of SARS-CoV-2 virus, now with the name Omicron, as a “Variant of Concern” (VOC).
According to WHO’s definition, a VOC, with a degree of global public health significance demonstrates one or more of mutational changes such as increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology, increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation, and decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.
WHO has since urged countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing on circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, submit complete genome sequences and metadata to a publicly available database, and report initial VOC cases or clusters to WHO.
It has also recommended field investigations and laboratory assessments to better understand potential impacts of the VOC on Covid-19 epidemiology, the effectiveness of public health and social measures and antibody neutralisation.
The Technical Advisory Group has advised WHO that Omicron variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern, reports Asian Lite News
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the new Covid variant detected in southern Africa this week as the ‘Variant of Concern’ following the Technical Advisory Group meeting on Friday.
“Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron”, said the global health body in a statement.
The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on November 24, 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9, 2021.
The WHO has asked the countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database. The WHO has reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of Covid-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated.
The WHO said that this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are of concern.
Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of re-infection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage, said the WHO.
The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus. The TAG-VE was convened on 26 November 2021 to assess the SARS-CoV-2 variant: B.1.1.529.
The fast-spreading Omicron variant is “nothing more than a seasonal cold virus” and there is little we can do to stop this virus from infecting people, claims a US-based doctor…reports Asian Lite News
Afshine Emrani, MD, who holds a Fellowship in the American College of Cardiology (FACC) from the US, said that people who are vaccinated have a much lower chance of dying or getting hospitalised. But there is little it can be done to stop this virus from infecting over 80 per cent of the population, he said.
“Masks, vaccine card mandates will make no difference,” Emrani said in a tweet.
“Vaccinated people still get infected and pass the virus to others,” he added.
He also mentioned that soon the US will have two million positive cases a day for weeks, after which the numbers will drop dramatically.
“The biggest threat in my opinion remains in over-reaction and over-reach by government agencies, causing panic, providing misinformation, leading to closures that hurt those most vulnerable among us,” Emrani said.
Meanwhile, a team of experts in Singapore has warned that the Omicron variant is likely to soon replace the Delta strain globally, as countries after countries have reported a record surge in Covid cases.
The warning comes as the World Health Organisation (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.
In India, the Omicron infection tally has climbed to 961, of which 320 patients have been discharged from hospitals.
A Covid-19 tracker, developed by the UK’s University of Cambridge, has predicted that India may soon see an intense but short-lived virus wave “within days”, even as the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid is spreading like wildfire in the country.
