(Bloomberg) — Britain’s regulator approved Pfizer Inc.’s antiviral pill as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government races to build an armory of weapons against the resurgent pandemic.
Airline cancellations are already piling up in the U.S., with 1,125 flights scrubbed as rising coronavirus cases hobbled staffing. Winter storms threatened to further disrupt travel over New Year’s weekend.
The number of new cases reported globally Thursday exceeded two million for the first time since the pandemic began. It was the fourth consecutive day of more than one million cases, a new record reached earlier in the week.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 286 million; deaths pass 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9.12 billion shots given
- JPMorgan, Citi employees to start 2022 by working from home
- Chinese shot-maker Sinovac warns vaccine revenue may fall
- Russia faces lost decade after deadliest Covid month
- What we know about the omicron variant now: QuickTake
Zimbabwe Extends Lockdown by Two Weeks (7:36 a.m. NY)
Zimbabwe extended its so-called Level 2 lockdown to mid-January. The government will review lockdown measures again after two weeks, guided by a scientific appreciation of the coronavirus situation, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said.
Manila Curbs on Movement Tightened (7:25 a.m. NY)
The Philippines will tighten movement restrictions in its capital from Jan. 3 to 15 after cases rose “exponentially” in the past days, a government spokesman said.
Metro Manila, which accounts for a third of the nation’s economic output, will be placed under Alert Level 3, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Friday night. Outdoor restaurants can operate at half capacity, while cinemas, gyms and other indoor businesses are limited to 30% capacity.
U.K. Regulator Approves Pfizer’s Pill (6:38 a.m. NY)
Britain’s regulator approved Pfizer Inc.’s antiviral pill, just weeks after clearing rival Merck & Co.’s oral treatment.
The Pfizer drug, Paxlovid, was authorized for use in people over 18 with mild to moderate Covid and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness, the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said Friday.
Singapore Extends Travel Lane Testing (6:09 a.m. NY)
Singapore is extending its testing regime for travelers arriving via its quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) for another four weeks, according to the Ministry of Health.
Singapore found 912 omicron imported cases as of Dec. 30, of whom 685 were detected through its enhanced testing regime for VTL travelers.
Johnson Urges U.K. Holdouts to Get Boosted (5:27 p.m. HK)
Boris Johnson used his New Year message to urge holdouts to get vaccine boosters, as growing pressure on the U.K. National Health Service threatens to undermine his strategy to get through the omicron wave.
Close to one-third of eligible adults in England have yet to receive a top-up dose, according to a statement from the government Friday, even as it said it met its target to offer all adults a booster by the end of the year. The U.K.’s other devolved nations make their own health policy.
U.S. Airlines Scrub 1,200 Flights (5:05 p.m. HK)
Airline cancellations are already piling up in the U.S., with 1,125 flights scrubbed as rising coronavirus cases hobbled staffing. Winter storms threatened to further disrupt travel over New Year’s weekend.
JetBlue Airways Corp. scratched 175 flights, accounting for 17% of its schedule, by 4:20 p.m. Thursday in New York, according to FlightAware.com. Allegiant canceled 96 flights, or 19% of its service. United Airlines Holdings Inc. scrubbed 199 flights, representing 9% of its schedule.
South Africa Sees Fewer Preconditions (4:23 p.m. HK)
Netcare Ltd., which operates South Africa’s biggest private health-care network, is seeing “significantly fewer patients” with pre-existing medical and respiratory conditions hospitalized during the omicron-driven fourth wave.
Earlier, South Africa eased restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus even as the percentage of people testing positive for the disease exceeded 20% for the 19th straight day.
The government lifted a curfew that was in place from midnight to 4 a.m. with immediate effect and allowed establishments selling alcohol to operate beyond 11 p.m. This is the first time in almost two years that liquor sales won’t be restricted by any Covid-19 related measures. Wearing of masks in public will remain mandatory.
Hong Kong Plans Vaccine Mandate (3:52 p.m. HK)
Hong Kong will require at least one vaccine dose for visitors to some restaurants and recreational venues like cinemas, gyms before the Lunar New Year, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan says.
Meanwhile, two Hong Kong residents have been preliminarily diagnosed with Covid-19, marking the first community spread of the virus in nearly seven months. Both infections are likely linked to an air crew member who moved about the city following an overseas flight.
In light of the worldwide spread of omicron, the government recently ended exemptions for aircrew and increased the mandatory hotel quarantine to seven days for workers on cargo planes. The stricter rules prompted Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, to suspend all long-haul freight and cargo-only flights for seven days.
China Punishes People Fleeing Xi’an (12:45 p.m. HK)
Police in China are tracking down people trying to leave Xi’an, which has been on lockdown for more than a week. One man was caught after trying to wade across a river and another pedaled 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) on a shared bicycle to his hometown. A third man who hiked 100 kilometers from the airport to a nearby county was later sent to quarantine.
Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said local authorities need to adopt more “targeted and forceful” measures and improve quarantine controls, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Thursday. China reported 166 local confirmed cases for Thursday, 97% of them in Xi’an.
South Korea Extends Restrictions Again (8:25 a.m. HK)
South Korea said its newly strengthened social distancing rules will stay in place for at least two more weeks. The restrictions, which ban private gatherings of five or more people and close restaurants and coffee shops at 9 p.m., were reinstated in mid-December as daily cases hit a record.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said it’s too early to say the crisis is over, even if cases have declined following the new rules and a ramped-up booster campaign. The country reported 4,875 new cases Thursday, falling for third day and bringing the seven-day average to its lowest since the tighter restrictions took effect.
New South Wales Reports Record Cases (5:30 p.m. NY)
Australia’s most populous state on Friday reported a record 21,151 new cases in the past 24 hours, a 73% increase compared with a day earlier, though hospitalization numbers rose more modestly.
New South Wales, which includes Sydney, said 832 Covid patients were hospitalized on Friday, up from 746 on Thursday. That’s still the highest since early October, when Sydney was preparing to emerge from a protracted lockdown driven by the delta variant. Neighboring Victoria state reported 5,919 new infections, of which 428 were hospitalized.
Ontario Limits Testing to Vulnerable (4:45 p.m. NY)
Ontario will reserve publicly funded PCR tests for only the most vulnerable residents as Canada’s most populous province can’t keep up with record infections from the omicron variant.
Official testing will no longer be required for people who had a positive result using a rapid antigen test, Chief Medical Officer Kieran Moore said Thursday during a virtual announcement.
“The omicron variant is rapidly spreading and we must preserve these resources for those who need them the most,” Moore said.
Vaccine Rule Fights Continue in High Court (4:25 p.m. NY)
Fights at the U.S. Supreme Court over the Biden administration’s shot-or-test rule for large employers and its separate vaccine mandate for health-care workers moved forward with another round of briefing Thursday.
The administration urged the justices to let its rule for employers remain in effect while litigation against the measure proceeds at a federal appeals court. A group of Republican-led states separately told the high court that the health worker mandate—currently blocked in half the U.S.—shouldn’t resume nationwide while several lawsuits unfold.
The cases test the power of federal agencies to make critical decisions and protect workers and patients in the face of a pandemic that’s killed more than 820,000 Americans. The high court will consider both vaccine measures during a special session on Jan. 7.
Israel to Offer Second Booster (1:43 p.m. NY)
Israel will become the first nation to offer a second booster dose, approving the additional shot for the most vulnerable as infections caused by the omicron variant rise, the Associated Press reported.
Nachman Ash, director general of the Health Ministry, was quoted as saying access to the second booster could be expanded to a wider population.
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.
(An earlier version of this story corrected the increase in cases in New South Wales in that item)
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