Category: Breaking News

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Biden Omicron measures too little, too late for fast-moving virus -experts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s steps to backstop hospitals and distribute coronavirus test kits, however welcome, are too little too late to stem a surge of Omicron-related coronavirus cases over Christmas and New Year’s, health experts said. A day after Biden outlined plans to distribute 500 million at-home coronavirus test kits, Anne Rimoin, a UCLA professor of epidemiology, praised his focus on testing, a “critical tool” that the United States was “woefully” behind on.

“Unfortunately, it’s late in coming and will be a small drop in the bucket compared to the tsunami of cases on the horizon.”

Continue reading “Biden Omicron measures too little, too late for fast-moving virus -experts”

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Britain reports record 119,789 new COVID-19 case

There has been a record further 119,789 Covid cases recorded in the UK in the past 24 hours. The figure tops the previous highest of 106,122 covid cases recorded yesterday – which surpassed the previous high of 93,045 recorded on 17 December. The record case numbers come after health secretary Sajid Javid said today the Government will not be making any announcements about future Covid restrictions in England before Christmas. Javid said: “We are not planning any further announcements this week. Despite the caution that we are all taking, people should enjoy their Christmases with their families and their friends – of course, remain cautious. “We will keep the situation under review. We are learning more all the time as we have done from this new data … and if we need to do anything more we will, but nothing more is going to happen before Christmas.” The health secretary also discussed two reports published this week, which found people infected with Omicron are at less risk of being hospitalised than people infected with the Delta, the last dominant variant before Omicros. He said the studies were “of course good, encouraging news” – but said the studies were “not very clear yet … by how much that risk is reduced”. Mr Javid continued: “We do know with Omicron that it does spread a lot more quickly, it is a lot more infectious than Delta, so any advantage gained from reduced risk of hospitalisation needs to be set against that. If a much smaller percentage of people are at risk of hospitalisation, if that is a smaller percentage of a much larger number, there could still be significant hospitalisation.” Mr Javid comments come after Boris Johnson promised on Tuesday there would not be any further measures before the festive day and stressed restrictions were being continuously reviewed. According to Office for Nation Statistics figures published today, there has been a record number of UK Covid cases recorded in a single week – after 1 in 45 people in the UK were found to have contracted the virus in the week ending December 16. There was also believed to be a record 1.4 million recorded in the same period – ​the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020.
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Risk-on rally resumes as Omicron fears recede

* European, Asian shares gain on Omicron severity data

* Safe-haven bonds less favoured

* U.S. consumer confidence grows

By Alun John and Lawrence White

HONG KONG/LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Global shares extended a recent rally on Thursday while safe-haven bonds and currencies eased as markets welcomed signs that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 might be less severe than feared, as well as robust U.S. economic data. The STOXX index of Europe’s 600 largest shares rose 0.3%, following earlier gains in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.57% and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8%. It put stock markets on course for a third successive day of gains as they recovered from a jolt on Monday when worries about the new coronavirus variant pushed investors to safe-haven assets like the greenback. “The recent health data from the UK and other places around the world indicate that the worst case is unlikely: even though (Omicron) transmission rates are reportedly higher, this variant seems less virulent and less prone to cause serious illnesses or death,” said David Chao, global market strategist Asia Pacific at Invesco. The risk of needing to stay in hospital for patients with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is 40-45% lower than for patients with the Delta variant, according to research by London’s Imperial College published on Wednesday. European government bond yields continued to tick up as the trickle of risk sentiment flowing back into the market reduced the need for safe-haven debt. Germany’s 10-year Bund yields hit -0.284%, their highest since late November.

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Hospitals have run out of the only antibody treatment that works against people infected by the Omicron mutation

Omicron overpowers key COVID antibody treatments in early tests

Strained hospitals bracing for a COVID-19 surge caused by the quickly spreading Omicron variant could face another grim possibility: preliminary experiments suggest that most of the antibody treatments for the disease are powerless against Omicron1,2,3,4. Doctors use artificial versions of natural antibodies to stave off severe COVID-19 in high-risk people who are infected with the coronavirus. But a slew of publications posted on preprint servers report laboratory evidence that Omicron is totally or partially resistant to all currently available treatments based on these monoclonal antibodies. The publications have not yet been peer reviewed, but some of the companies that manufacture antibody therapies already concede that their products have lower potency against Omicron than against other variants. The preprints report that only two antibodies show strong evidence of retaining some ability to thwart the variant: sotrovimab, developed by Vir Biotechnology in San Francisco, California, and GSK, headquartered in London; and DXP-604, which is undergoing clinical trials in China and was developed by BeiGene and Singlomics, both based in Beijing.
Continue reading “Hospitals have run out of the only antibody treatment that works against people infected by the Omicron mutation”

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Why won’t Florida,CDC release states breakthrough COVID cases data

For more than two months, the Tampa Bay Times and other news organizations have been asking Florida for data that breaks down how many vaccinated people have been infected, hospitalized or died of COVID-19. They are called “breakthrough” cases, data that would show how effectively the vaccine has protected Floridians — and how vulnerable the unvaccinated are.

But the Florida Department of Health has continually refused those requests, citing what public health and legal experts say are misplaced privacy concerns. Continue reading “Why won’t Florida,CDC release states breakthrough COVID cases data”

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Wall Street rises on rosy economic data, encouraging Omicron update

A trader in a face mask works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

A trader in a face mask works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, U.S.,

  • Consumer confidence index increases in December
  • U.S. Q3 economic growth revised slightly higher
  • Pfizer oral COVID-19 pill wins approval
  • Tesla jumps as CEO Musk says he has sold ‘enough’ stock

Continue reading “Wall Street rises on rosy economic data, encouraging Omicron update”

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We could be entering the worst part of the pandemic… Bill Gates

 

In a series of tweets late Tuesday, Bill Gates says he plans to cancel most of his holiday plans and warned that that the United States “could be entering the worst part of the pandemic.
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Radio Free Wall Street

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

More precisely, the Omicron. You might be wondering why governments have gotten so aggressive lately. Reality is, this next wave will be the worst one yet. I’m going to tell you what you must do now in our latest edition of Radio Free Wall Street.

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‘Significant increase’ in protection vs Omicron from mRNA boosters, study says

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Getting a third dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech’s or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine offers a “significant increase” in protection against the Omicron variant in elderly people, according to a Danish study published on Wednesday.
The study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, investigated the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that use so-called mRNA technology against the Delta variant and the new, more infectious Omicron variant.

Continue reading “‘Significant increase’ in protection vs Omicron from mRNA boosters, study says”

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Fourth COVID-19 shot needed, says German health minister

BERLIN, Dec 22 (Reuters) – German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Wednesday that a fourth vaccination will be necessary in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic due to the more contagious Omicron variant. He said that Germany has ordered 80 million doses of a vaccine made by Biontech specifically targeting Omicron and should arrive in April or May. Germany has also ordered four million doses of the newly approved vaccine Novavax – seen as more acceptable to vaccine sceptics – and 11 million doses of the new Valneva shot, which is waiting for marketing authorisation, Lauterbach said. The Novavax shots will arrive in the country in January, Lauterbach told a news conference. “An offensive booster campaign is our most important building block in the fight against Omicron,” the health minister said. Lauterbach threw his support behind a general vaccine mandate, saying that without one, it would not be possible to manage coming waves of infection over the long term. According to Lothar Wieler, president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, Omicron will be responsible for most coronavirus infections in Germany within three weeks. “Christmas should not become the spark that starts the Omicron blaze,” RKI chief Lothar Wieler told the same news conference, adding people should limit contacts to an absolute minimum. (Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska and Miranda Murray Editing by Madeline Chambers.