Governments around the world are urgently scouring databases for recent cases of infections, screening travellers and decoding the viral genomes of the new Omicron variant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) agreed to launch negotiations on an international pact to prevent and control future pandemics.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* The European Union-wide rollout of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine version for five- to 11-year-old children will begin on Dec. 13, Germany’s health ministry said.
* Germany reported the highest number of deaths since mid-February as hospitals warned the country could have 6,000 people in intensive care by Christmas.
* Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a “call to get jabs in arms” as Britain stepped up its booster programme to fend off the Omicron variant of concern.
* Norway has identified its first two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, the government said.
* A person infected with the new Omicron variant participated in a large concert on Saturday, the Danish Patient Safety Authority said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Nigeria said it had confirmed its first cases of the Omicron variant, among them a sample from travellers who came to Nigeria in October, suggesting it had turned up weeks before it was reported in southern Africa.
AMERICAS
* Air travellers to the United States will face tougher testing rules, while more countries tightened their borders amid uncertainty around the virulence of the Omicron variant and its ability to evade vaccine protection.
* Canada will require people arriving by air from all nations except the United States to take a COVID-19 test, the health minister said on Tuesday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Japan’s airlines halted new reservations and the government widened a travel ban amid escalating alarm over Omicron after a second case of the variant was detected in the country.
* Hong Kong will ban non-residents from entering the city from Japan, Portugal and Sweden from Friday, adding to a fast-expanding list of countries facing travel restrictions due to concerns over the Omicron variant.
* Australian authorities flagged another probable case of the Omicron variant in Sydney as they braced for more infections after at least two international travellers visited several locations in the city while likely infectious.
* India’s aviation regulator said it would announce the resumption of scheduled commercial international flights in “due course” instead of a planned restart on Dec. 15 due to the global spread of the Omicron variant.
* A U.N. peacekeeping conference expected to draw more than 700 people to Seoul next week from 155 nations will now be held online instead, as concerns grow over the Omicron variant, South Korean officials said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENT
* Serum Institute of India has sent doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesia, in its first export of the Novavax shot through the COVAX network, the Indian government said.
* A panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday narrowly voted to recommend the agency authorise Merck’s antiviral pill.
* Pfizer’s chief executive officer said on Tuesday the company had submitted a request to the U.S. FDA seeking the authorisation for its booster doses for use in 16- and 17-year olds.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Stock markets roared higher, reversing much of the previous session’s losses, as investors used the dip in prices to begin December by betting the latest COVID-19 variant would not derail the economic recovery. [MKTS/GLOB]
* The Bank of Japan can hold off on expanding stimulus unless a spike in Omicron cases triggers huge market turbulence, board member Seiji Adachi said.
(Compiled by Alexander Kloss and Rashmi Aich ; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Bernadette Baum)
