(Bloomberg) — New York City’s Mayor-elect Eric Adams promised to keep schools and businesses open amid record infections. He vowed to keep in place a mandate for all private sector employees to be vaccinated.
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to expand eligibility for booster doses on Monday, allowing 12- to 15-year-olds to receive a third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, The New York Times reports, citing people familiar with the agency’s plans.
Two separate studies on the behavior of human T-cells after vaccination provided fresh clues on why the unprecedented wave of global Covid-19 infections hasn’t yet engulfed hospitals.
Research by Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Cape Town in South Africa suggested the cells are primed enough by vaccination to protect against severe disease from the omicron variant even when antibodies wane.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases approach 284.9 million; deaths pass 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9.11 billion shots given
- Errors, inaction sent a deadly Covid variant around the world
- As omicron spreads, so does demand to ‘up your mask game’
- Pfizer, Merck pills hinge on Biden plan to expand testing
- What Covid therapies exist, and what omicron changes: QuickTake
NYC’s Adams Vows to Keep Vaccine Mandate (11:58 a.m. NY)
New York City’s Mayor-elect Eric Adams promised Thursday to keep schools and businesses open amid record coronavirus infections by encouraging more vaccinations, boosters and testing.
Adams outlined a six-point Covid-19 plan during a news briefing that includes keeping outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate for all private sector employees be vaccinated. His approach to the mandate will be “cooperative, not punitive,” with the city’s focus on “vaccine and testing, vaccine and testing,” said Adams, who takes office on Saturday.
FDA to Approve Boosters for Teens: NYT (11:52 a.m. NY)
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to expand eligibility for coronavirus vaccine booster doses on Monday, allowing 12- to 15-year-olds to receive a third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, The New York Times reports, citing people familiar with the agency’s plans.
Greece Reduces Quarantine (11:44 a.m. NY)
Greece is reducing to five days from 10 the self-isolation requirement for people who test positive as long as they have no symptoms at the end of the period, Greek Health Ministry officials said Thursday. Individuals who have received the booster no longer need to self-isolate after coming into contact with a confirmed case, but must wear FFP2 technology or two surgery masks for 10 days and undergo a PCR test after five days.
Greece reported Thursday 35,580 new cases, a fourth straight daily record.
Russia Records Deadliest Month (11:02 a.m. NY)
November was Russia’s deadliest month of the Covid-19 pandemic, deepening a demographic crisis that President Vladimir Putin says is a threat to the country’s future.
There were a record 85,527 deaths associated with the virus last month, according to data released by the Federal Statistics Service late Thursday. That was a 16% increase over the previous month, and raised total fatalities linked to Covid-19 in Russia to more than 625,000.
Israel Gets First Shipment of Pfizer Pill (10:56 a.m. NY)
A first shipment of Pfizer Inc.’s anti-coronavirus drug arrived in Israel on Thursday, the prime minister’s office said. It did not say how many pills had been ordered or delivered. Channel 12 news reported that the shipment contained tens of thousands of pills.
“Just as we were global pioneers in giving the third and fourth doses of the vaccine, we are now leading as well in giving the drug to the citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.
British Airways Cancels HK Flights (10:07 a.m. NY)
British Airways has scrapped flights to Hong Kong until March as the territory further tightens aircrew quarantine restrictions to contain the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.
Airline cancellations are already piling up in the U.S., with more than 1,000 flights scrubbed the day before New Year’s Eve as coronavirus cases climbed and heavy snow brewed in the West.
JetBlue Airways Corp. scratched 175 flights, accounting for 17% of its schedule, by 9:39 a.m. Thursday in New York, according to FlightAware.com. Allegiant canceled 89 flights, or 18% of its service. United Airlines Holdings Inc. scrubbed 190 flights, representing 8% of its schedule.
Studies Show T-Cells Buck Omicron (7:57 a.m. NY)
An unsung arm of the immune system appears to protect against severe disease with the omicron variant even when antibodies wane, helping to explain why a record wave of infections hasn’t engulfed hospitals so far.
T cells, the body’s weapon against virus-infected cells, were primed enough by vaccination that they defended against omicron in separate studies from Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Germany Adds Italy, Canada to Risk List (6:18 a.m. NY)
Germany put Italy, Canada and Malta on its high-risk list, meaning travelers from those countries need to quarantine for 10 days unless they’re vaccinated, recovered or can present a negative test five days after arrival. The U.S. and dozens of other countries are already on the list.
Germany’s contagion rate ticked up on Thursday, rising to 207.4 infections per 100,000 people over the past seven days. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has expressed concern that the data don’t accurately reflect the current outbreak because of staffing issues over the Christmas holidays. According to a report in Spiegel magazine, he’s looking at shortening the 14-day quarantine after contact with an infected person due to concern public services and parts of the economy could run into staffing shortages.
Omicron Spreads in Post-Lockdown Austria (6:49 p.m. HK)
Austria recorded an increased case count for a second day, suggesting the spread of the omicron variant was overturning the benefits of a three-week national lockdown.
Authorities registered 187 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the seven days through Thursday, up from a nine-week low on Tuesday. Still, hospitalizations continued to drop.
Austrian officials have tightened travel requirements to delay what it sees as an inevitable new wave of infections.
Italy Approves Two Antiviral Drugs (6 p.m. HK)
Italy’s medicines agency approved the use of two antiviral drugs, Molnupiravir and Remdesivir, for the treatment of not hospitalized virus patients at risk of development severe Covid-19.
Oral antiviral Molnupiravir will be distributed to regional health authorities from Jan. 4.
Italy, meantime, eased coronavirus quarantine rules and imposed a vaccine mandate for most activities in a bid to keep essential services running, after the country recorded a record number of cases.
Hong Kong Bans Flights for Two Weeks (5:47 p.m. HK)
Hong Kong is closing another three routes operated by three airlines from Dec. 30 to Jan. 12 as they violated Covid-19 prevention rules, according to a government statement.
The airlines affected are Finnair, Turkish Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air. Hong Kong reported 11 new imported omicron cases, bringing the total to 81.
U.K. Erects Temporary Care Centers (5:12 p.m. HK)
The U.K.’s National Health Service is setting up so-called Nightingale care hubs to prepare for a potential surge in Covid-19 admissions due to the omicron variant.
The temporary structures will be capable of providing diagnostics and emergency care to about 100 patients and will be erected in the grounds of eight hospitals across the country, the NHS said in a statement Thursday.
Global Cases Surge 32% to Record (3:30 p.m. HK)
More than 1.7 million new Covid-19 cases were recorded on Wednesday, a 32% increase from a day earlier and a new global record, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
It’s the third day in a row that infections have surpassed the 1 million mark, driven by the highly mutated omicron variant. Its greater transmissibility, combined with a shorter incubation period, ability to evade existing immunity and higher reproduction number, is expected to spur more records in the days to come.
Taliban Requests WHO Help on Sequencing (3:28 p.m. HK)
The Taliban asked the World Health Organization for help in genomic sequencing of Afghanistan’s Covid-19 samples, according to the country’s Ministry of Health Affairs.
The omicron variant may have already spread across the nation as it shares borders with Pakistan and Iran where the new variant has been detected, Jahid Zahir, the spokesman of the ministry said. The global health body has promised to provide the required technology by next month, he said.
The country of 40 million has so far counted 160,000 total infections and reported more than 7,000 deaths, according to the ministry.
China Finds Covid in Imported Dragon Fruit (2:15 p.m. HK)
Weak traces of Covid were found in an imported batch of dragon fruit in the Chinese city of Taizhou, according to a statement from the municipal government.
Local authorities locked down the market where the fruit was distributed and started testing all staff, it said. The statement didn’t say which country the fruit had been imported from.
Australia Eases Isolation Rules Amid Omicron (1:33 p.m. HK)
Most of Australia will relax isolation rules for close contacts of Covid cases and recognize the results of rapid antigen tests as omicron surges.
Five of its eight states and territories will from Friday allow close household contacts of confirmed cases to isolate for seven days, and then leave after receiving a negative rapid antigen test, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in Canberra.
“With omicron, we cannot have hundreds of thousands of Australians, or more, taken out of circulation based on rules that were set for the delta variant,” he said.
Most states would previously only accept the results of more-reliable PCR tests, while close contacts of confirmed cases were required to isolate for up to two weeks.
China Says Provided 2B Shots to 120 Nations (1:04 p.m. HK)
China provided more than 2 billion Covid shots to more than 120 nations as of Dec. 26, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told state media, according to a statement on the ministry’s website.
China has provided the most Covid vaccines to other nations, contrasting markedly with some countries which didn’t fulfill their promises, Wang said, without elaborating.
India Sees 40% Rise From Day Earlier (12:42 p.m. HK)
India reported over 13,000 new Covid cases on Thursday, a rise of more than 40% over the previous day’s tally. Daily cases have nearly doubled over the last two days, according to government data.
Capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai have both seen huge jumps in infections this week and announced restrictions on public gatherings. The federal Health Ministry has so far recorded 961 omicron-related cases spread out across the country.
India had over 400,000 daily new infections during the height of its second wave of delta-fueled infections over the summer. The world’s largest democracy has so far recorded just over 34.8 million cases and more than 480,000 deaths.
J&J Booster Cuts Hospital Stays: Study (12:37 p.m. HK)
Being boosted with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine significantly reduced the risk that South African health care workers would be hospitalized with an infection caused by the omicron variant, a study showed.
The effectiveness of the booster shot increased with time, rising to 85% protection against hospitalization when the shot was given one to two months earlier, up from 63% for the first two weeks. The study was published on the online website medRxiv, without undergoing peer review.
The results are the first evidence of effectiveness with the company’s booster given six to nine months after an initial vaccination — a key finding given the reliance on the immunization in Africa — the researchers said.
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