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Continue reading “UK virus cases grow at fastest pace in 11 months”
UK virus cases grow at fastest pace in 11 months
British PM Johnson faces rebellion in parliament over COVID measures
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a large rebellion among his Conservative lawmakers on Tuesday in a parliamentary vote over new restrictions to try to curb the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.The measures, including ordering people to work from home, to wear masks in public places and use COVID-19 passes to enter some venues, are expected to be approved by parliament but with Johnson relying on the opposition Labour Party for votes. It’s yet another blow to a prime minister already under pressure over reported parties in his Downing Street office last year when such gatherings were banned, a pricey refurbishment of his apartment and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Continue reading “British PM Johnson faces rebellion in parliament over COVID measures”
Pound weakens as Britain braces for Omicron ‘tidal wave’
LONDON (Reuters) -Sterling traded lower on Monday as Britain braced for a “tidal wave” of the Omicron coronavirus variant and investors took the view the Bank of England would keep interest rates on hold to assess its economic impact before tightening monetary policy. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of an incoming surge in infections and said at least one patient had died in the United Kingdom after contracting the Omicron variant. Before the death was announced, Britain said 10 people had been hospitalized with the Omicron variant in various parts of England. Their ages ranged from 18 to 85 years and most had received two vaccination doses. Health Secretary Sajid Javid also told parliament that the variant was spreading swiftly and would become the dominant variant in the British capital in the next 48 hours. Continue reading “Pound weakens as Britain braces for Omicron ‘tidal wave’”
Wall Street falls as investors eye Omicron and Fed meeting
Dec 13 (Reuters) – Wall Street fell from record highs on Monday, with shares of Carnival Corp and several airlines tumbling as investors worried about the Omicron coronavirus variant ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later this week. Travel-related stocks fell, with the fast-spreading variant accounting for around 40% of COVID-19 infections in London and at least one death in the United Kingdom. Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean Cruises all dropped more than 5%, while the S&P 1500 airlines index shed 3.1%. “It’s transportation, restaurants, all the things that if it got bad enough that we started putting new restrictions on people, it would not be good for them,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta. “They have all been bid over the past several months by the idea that we were going to get back to business as usual.” Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes fell, with only defensive sectors, including consumer staples, utilities and real estate gaining. Continue reading “Wall Street falls as investors eye Omicron and Fed meeting”
Israeli study finds Pfizer COVID-19 booster protects against Omicron
JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant. The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant. The study, carried out by Sheba Medical Center and the Health Ministry’s Central Virology Laboratory, compared the blood of 20 people who had received two vaccine doses 5-6 months earlier to the same number of individuals who had received a booster a month before. “People who received the second dose 5 or 6 months ago do not have any neutralization ability against the Omicron. While they do have some against the Delta (strain),” Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba, told reporters. “The good news is that with the booster dose it increases about a hundred fold. There is a significant protection of the booster dose. It is lower than the neutralization ability against the Delta, about four times lower,” she said. The Israeli team said they worked with the actual virus while the companies used what is known as a pseudovirus, which was bio-engineered to have the hallmark mutations of Omicron. The Israeli research follows a study from South Africa that found the Omicron variant can partially evade protection from two doses.
Israeli study finds Pfizer COVID-19 booster protects against Omicron
JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant. The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant. The study, carried out by Sheba Medical Center and the Health Ministry’s Central Virology Laboratory, compared the blood of 20 people who had received two vaccine doses 5-6 months earlier to the same number of individuals who had received a booster a month before. “People who received the second dose 5 or 6 months ago do not have any neutralization ability against the Omicron. While they do have some against the Delta (strain),” Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba, told reporters. “The good news is that with the boosster dose it increases about a hundred fold. There is a significant protection of the booster dose. It is lower than the neutralization ability against the Delta, about four times lower,” she said. The Israeli team said they worked with the actual virus while the companies used what is known as a pseudovirus, which was bio-engineered to have the hallmark mutations of Omicron. The Israeli research follows a study from South Africa that found the Omicron variant can partially evade protection from two doses.
S. Korea’s critical COVID cases at record high
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea reported a record daily 5,352 new COVID-19 infections and 70 deaths, while a nationwide total of nine cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday. The government on Friday announced that people visiting restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces will have to show vaccine passes. It is also reducing the limit on private gatherings to six people in the greater Seoul area, from 10 currently, and to eight from 12 for those residing outside of the capital, starting next Monday. The hospitalisation rate was rising rapidly led by severe cases of COVID-19, with the number of serious and critical patients at 752 as of Friday, KDCA said. South Korea has also confirmed three additional Omicron cases, bringing the total to nine after a fully vaccinated couple tested positive for the variant after travelling from Nigeria last week. To fend off the new variant, authorities on Friday announced a 10-day mandatory quarantine requirement for all inbound travellers for two weeks, halting exemptions given earlier to fully vaccinated people. Continue reading “S. Korea’s critical COVID cases at record high”
Gove: UK faces ‘deeply concerning situation’…..Omicron will be dominant variant by early next week, professor warns…….. People “very likely” to come in contact with Omicron holders, professor warns….
30% of cases in London are now Omicron as Govt advised to bring in tougher restrictions Boosters urged in face of Omicron spread
he UK’s top public health officials have advised ministers that “stringent national measures” need to be imposed by 18 December to avoid Covid hospitalisations surpassing last winter’s peak, according to reports. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, received a presentation from the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) on Tuesday warning that even if the new Omicro variant leads to less serious disease than Delta, it risks overwhelming the NHS with 5,000 people admitted to hospital a day, the Guardian reported. It comes as Communities Secretary Michael Gove said Omicron already makes up 30 per cent of new Covid cases in London.Department of Health figures show London’s infection rate have risen in all 32 boroughs of London – with 11 seeing a leap of over a third in a week. Omicron could overtake Delta as the dominant Covid-19 variant as early as next week, an expert has warned. Professor Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government, told Sky News: “All four countries are managing this the way they think they should. It’s not any different. “There may be slight variations regionally around England but you’re pretty much where we are.” He said Omicron will be the dominant variant by the beginning of next week. “We’ve done this four times now… we’ve had four variants. Unfortunately two of them have come four weeks before Christmas. You couldn’t make this virus up, it’s like fiction.” Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease, said Omicron is spreading so fast that people are “very likely” to meet someone infected with the Covid-19 variant unless they are “living the life of a hermit”. The University of Edinburgh academic also warned “a lot of people” could still end up in hospital even if the coronavirus mutation proves to provoke milder symptoms than the Delta variant. Prof Riley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Omicron is spreading so quickly that, I think, unless you are living the life of a hermit, you are very likely to come across it in the next few weeks.“I don’t think anyone should be going around thinking they are not going to catch it, I think that situation has changed.” She added: “There is a huge ‘if’ about this, ‘is it milder?’. I think it is very dangerous to compare data from South Africa, say, to the UK.
EU drugs regulator says data supports vaccine boosters after three months
In major shift, EU says vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults
- EU agency says people above 40 years should be prioritised
- Boosters should be given at least six months after vaccination
- Guidance not binding but likely to inform changes to COVID pass
BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) – The head of the European Union’s public health agency Andrea Ammon said on Wednesday that COVID-19 vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults, with priority for those above 40 years, in a major change to the agency’s guidance.Recommendations issued by the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) are not binding on EU governments but are used to make health policy decisions.”Booster doses should be considered for all adult individuals prioritising persons above 40 years of age,” Ammon said in a recorded statement, noting that boosters should be administered at least six months after completing the primary vaccine schedule. In its previous guidance issued in September alongside the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the ECDC said there was no urgent need for the administration of booster doses to fully vaccinated individuals in the general population, but suggested that additional doses should be considered for people with weakened immune systems and could be used as a precaution for older frail individuals.”Available evidence emerging from Israel and the UK shows a significant increase in protection against infection and severe disease following a booster dose in all age groups in the short term,” the ECDC said in a report published on Wednesday.It advised giving boosters to all adults with priority “for those aged 40 years and over”.FRAGMENTED EUROPEAmmon said that boosters will increase protection against infections caused by waning immunity and “could potentially reduce the transmission in the population and prevent additional hospitalisations and deaths”.She advised countries with low levels of vaccinations to speed up their rollouts and warned of high risks of a further spike in deaths and hospitalisations in Europe in December and January if the recommended measures were not introduced.The European Commission is expected to take the advice on boosters into consideration when proposing changes to the use of COVID-19 certificates later this week, officials said.”Boosters should be available for adults, with priority for people over 40 and vulnerable people,” the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Twitter after the ECDC’s report was published.Many EU countries have already begun giving booster doses to their populations but are using different criteria to select groups that are prioritised and using different intervals between primary vaccinations and boosters.Austria, which has this week reintroduced a lockdown amid a spike in cases, has decided to give boosters after four months, whereas in Italy the additional dose can be administered after five months.The ECDC also recommended countries apply minor restrictive measures, such as the use of face masks where physical distance is not possible and teleworking.It said that travel restrictions were unlikely to have a significant impact because the virus is already present in all EU countries.It also said that there was limited evidence of decreased transmission caused by the use of COVID-19 certificates to access restaurants, cinemas or museums – measures that about 20 EU countries are currently applying.
Pfizer: 3 vaccine doses neutralize Omicron
Preliminary laboratory studies demonstrate that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine neutralize the Omicron variant, while two doses appear to be significantly less effective, Pfizer said in a statement on Wednesday. The ability of a vaccine to protect against infection can be examined in two ways: in the laboratory to see if antibodies found in the blood of vaccinated individuals neutralize the variant, or by collecting data from the field to show how many vaccinated individuals become infected compared with unvaccinated individuals. The company’s scientists compared the results from blood taken from individuals who had received the booster a month earlier with those from blood from vaccinees with only two shots. Pfizer said that the level of protection offered by the booster against Omicron resulted similarly to the one provided by two doses of the vaccine against other variants. The research showed that the immunity offered by the third dose against Omicron was 25-times higher than the immunity offered by two doses. According to the statement, two doses likely still offer some protection against severe disease. “Our preliminary, first dataset indicates that a third dose could still offer a sufficient level of protection from disease of any severity caused by the Omicron variant,” said BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin. “Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. “Ensuring as many people as possible are fully vaccinated with the first two dose series and a booster remains the best course of action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” However, at least one researcher said that Pfizer’s statements about the vaccine’s effectiveness must be taken with caution. Continue reading “Pfizer: 3 vaccine doses neutralize Omicron”