(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people get a booster shot with the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine five months after their first two shots, shortening the interval from the previous six-month regimen.
The U.S. set a new global daily record of coronavirus cases, with more than 1 million people diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as omicron sweeps across the country. The tally was almost double the previous record, set just days ago.
Hong Kong will ban most unvaccinated people from restaurants, libraries and museums starting next month and require all teachers and school staff to get shots. Hong Kong found one preliminary Covid-19 positive case with unknown source of infection, health officials said.
Giorgio Armani is among fashion houses to cancel or move shows this month due to increasing infection rates in Europe.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 292 million; deaths exceed 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9.2 billion shots administered
- Open streets reflect inequality in the U.S., study indicates
- What we know now about omicron: Quicktake
- How safe is flying as omicron surges: QuickTake
- Can omicron escape vaccines and boosters: Coronavirus Daily
Greece Taps Private Clinics for Beds (11:41 a.m. NY)
The Greek government reached an agreement with the country’s association of private clinics to use 10% to 15% of their ordinary beds for managing Covid patients when needed, Health Minister Athanasios Plevris said. Greece reported 50,126 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic. Despite the jump, the country’s schools will reopen as scheduled on Jan. 10 with stricter testing protocols.
Maryland Declares State of Emergency (10:30 a.m. NY)
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a 30-day state of emergency as he predicted hospitalizations could reach more than 5,000, a 250% increase from a peak reached a year ago.
The next four to six weeks “will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic,” Hogan said Tuesday at a virus briefing.
Hogan announced several actions to deal with the crisis, including giving the state’s health department the authority to direct and expedite transfer of patients; establishing alternative care facilities; allowing inactive health-care practitioners to help out without having to get their licenses renewed; authorizing graduate nurses to provide full nursing services; and activating 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to assist.
CDC Shortens Pfizer Booster Interval (10:05 a.m. NY)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people get a booster shot with the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine five months after their first two shots, shortening the interval from the previous six-month regimen.
The new recommendation comes one day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration changed its emergency authorization for the shot to reflect a shorter dosing interval for the booster.
Germany Eases Restrictions (9:03 a.m. N.Y.)
Germany has eased travel from the U.K. and South Africa by dropping them from its list of so-called areas of variants of concern.
Vaccinated travelers from those countries will no longer need to quarantine in Germany if they can show a negative test result before arrival.
The move comes as total suspected and confirmed cases of the omicron variant rose 17% to 35,529 cases.
Armani Cancels Fashion Shows (8:59 a.m. N.Y.)
Giorgio Armani has canceled January’s shows in Milan and the Paris fashion weeks due to increasing infection rates in Europe, the Italian company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The move was made “with great regret” because the shows are considered “crucial and irreplaceable occasions,” the fashion house said in the release. Valentino’s Vintage campaign has also been moved from January to April, the Italian company said in a separate statement.
WHO Downplays French Variant (8:10 a.m. N.Y.)
The organization said it has been monitoring a new coronavirus variant with atypical mutations that was identified in 12 people in the southern Alps of France since November.
The variant, called B.1.640, has had a lot of time and opportunity to expand, though it hasn’t picked up as much as other mutations, according to Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on Covid.
Ireland Mulls Longer School Break (6:33 a.m. N.Y.)
Ireland’s government is under pressure to delay re-opening schools following the Christmas break in an effort to contain one of the world’s worst outbreaks of Covid-19.
The country’s contagion rate rose to almost 2,500 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days — the highest in Europe as of Monday.
Bangladesh Calls for Stricter Virus Curbs (6:23 a.m. N.Y.)
The health ministry urged fresh Covid-19 restrictions within seven days as Bangladesh reported 775 new virus cases on Tuesday, the highest daily count since Oct. 4.
The recommendations include requiring citizens to show vaccine certificates to dine in restaurants, wear masks outdoors and avoid social and religious gatherings.
Indonesia’s Covid Cases Surge (5:13 a.m. N.Y.)
The number of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia surged to 299 in a 24-hour period, the highest addition since Dec. 2, 2021, according to health ministry data. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has recorded nearly 4.3 million of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. Its confirmed omicron cases more than doubled to 152 in the past month.
The government on Monday shortened the mandatory quarantine period for travelers arriving from heavily-infected nations to 7 days from 10 but added more into its “red list” of riskier country of origins.
India Imposes Curfew on Capital (4:26 a.m. N.Y.)
Government staff will shift to work from home, while private companies have been told to ensure no more than 50% of employees come to the office, New Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said.
New Delhi’s virus cases surged to 11,000 in past 10 days, and people should only leave their homes for urgent matters while masks have been made compulsory in public transport, according to officials
U.S. Sets Global Daily Case Record (1 p.m. H.K.)
Roughly 1.06 million cases were diagnosed Monday as of midnight New York time, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The tally may fluctuate as more data is entered.
That’s more than any country has ever reported since the pandemic began more than two years ago and comes after the recent record of about 590,000 cases was itself a doubling from the prior week.
The surging infections have led to canceled flights, closed schools and offices, overwhelmed hospitals and strangled supply chains.
The stratospheric numbers come even as many Americans rely on tests they take at home, with results that aren’t reported to authorities. That means that the record is likely a significant under-estimate.
Taiwan to Tighten Some Curbs (2:45 p.m. H.K.)
Taiwan said it found four locally transmitted cases of coronavirus, with one having been confirmed as infected with the omicron variant. It also found 30 more imported cases.
The government will strengthen controls at Taoyuan, home of the island’s main international airport, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a briefing. Masks can only be removed outdoors at Taoyuan for dining, he said.
Thailand Sees Covid as Endemic (2:35 p.m. H.K.)
Thailand aims to treat Covid-19 as endemic in 2022 by resuming normal activity, increasing immunization through booster shots, and reducing hospitalizations, Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said on Tuesday in Bangkok.
Cases have dropped to a six-month low amid curbs on mobility and businesses and a ramp-up in vaccinations. The country reported 3,091 new cases and 12 deaths on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 2.2 million. About 10% of its 72 million residents have received a third dose, and about 64% have received at least two shots.
The “living with endemic Covid” strategy marks a shift from its “zero-Covid” approach in 2020, and “learning to live with Covid” blueprint last year, which saw the tourism-reliant economy reopen its borders to foreign visitors.
Xi’an Residents Chafe at Lockdown (12:20 p.m. H.K.)
Almost two weeks of lockdown is starting to wear on the residents of Xi’an, the western city at the center of the longest outbreak of Covid-19 in China since the virus was first detected.
Shortages of food and medical care have worsened in the past 12 days since officials sealed off the city of 13 million people to stymie a flareup that has already led to more than 1,600 infections. More posts are starting to emerge on Chinese social media criticizing the government’s poor management and complaining that access to food is extremely limited.
The outbreak appears to have spread from Xi’an, which reported 95 new cases on Tuesday. The eastern province of Zhejiang and central province of Henan reported eight and five cases respectively, while another 21 asymptomatic infections were detected country-wide and counted separately.
Hong Kong Sets Vaccine Mandate (12:10 p.m. H.K.)
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced a vaccine requirement for restaurants and public leisure facilities will be imposed from February 24. That’s later than initially planned, with the government having delayed the start of the restrictions to after the Lunar New Year holidays, when families gather in homes and restaurants across the city.
Lam said the delay was needed so businesses can prepare, and to give the city time to roll out vaccines to the roughly 1 million people who haven’t yet had a first dose. “We can’t possibly ask them to make all the required preparations within a very short time because they have to make big changes with their facilities,” she said of the catering sector.
Private workplaces and shopping malls are exempt from the mandate.
Delhi’s Chief Minister Tests Positive (12:05 p.m. H.K.)
Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister, tested positive with mild symptoms as a wave of infections continues to strengthen across the country. India confirmed 1,892 omicron cases Tuesday and 124 more deaths, taking the total tally of Covid-related fatalities to 482,017.
More than 9.9 million vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours, according to federal health ministry data. This included 4 million doses to teens aged between 15-18 years.
Goldman Says China Border Curbs May Stay (11:50 a.m.)
China may keep its border restrictions for the rest of the year as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics and a series of political events in 2022, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.
Reports that vaccines made by domestic firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd. offer limited protection against the omicron variant will likely reinforce China’s resolve to stick with its Covid Zero strategy, analysts led by Andrew Tilton wrote in a note Tuesday.
Eurasia Sees Continued Covid Threat (10:55 a.m. H.K.)
Geopolitical risk consultancy Eurasia Group, assessing the biggest political risks in 2022, ranked “No Zero Covid” as the No. 1 threat, focusing on how China is facing an increasingly difficult battle to eliminate the virus’s more transmissible variants.
China’s zero-Covid policy looked “incredibly successful” in 2020 but now has “become a fight against a much more transmissible variant with broader lockdowns and vaccines with limited effectiveness,” Eurasia said in its report. “The population has virtually no antibodies against Omicron. Keeping the country locked down for two years has now made it more risky to open it back up.”
The initial success of the policy and President Xi Jinping’s attachment to it “makes it impossible to change course.”
The world’s second largest economy is still in the midst of an protracted whack-a-mole with the delta variant since it started its first domestic flareup in May 2021. The inactivated Covid vaccines developed by Chinese companies Sinovac and Sinopharm are found to stimulate little or no protective antibodies against the immunity-evading omicron variant.
Grammy’s May Be Delayed Again (9:00 a.m. H.K.)
The 2022 Grammy Awards set for Jan. 31 are likely to be delayed, Billboard reported, citing multiple unidentified people. This would be the second year in a row that the Grammys have been postponed due to the pandemic.
China’s Zhengzhou Sets Partial Lockdown (8:55 a.m. H.K.)
Zhengzhou, capital city of central province of Henan, locked down some neighborhoods in two districts from Tuesday after two Covid infections were reported Monday.
Henan reported a total of 24 local Covid infections Monday, and the province’s Yuzhou, a city of 1.3 million people, earlier this week barred people from leaving the city and put downtown districts in lockdown.
Tokyo, Okinawa Cases Rise (8:45 a.m. H.K.)
Japan’s capital found 103 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the most in nearly three months according to data from the Tokyo government.
The number of serious cases remained at one. But the seven-day average case load figure rose to 75.7, nearly doubling from the previous week.
In the southern prefecture of Okinawa, 130 cases were reported Monday, the highest since late September, according to Fuji News Network. In the Japanese capital, a cluster of 11 cases was found at the Tokyo Daijingu shrine, the broadcaster also reported.
Omicron May Be Less Dangerous Variant (8:15 a.m. H.K.)
A string of new studies have confirmed that even as case numbers hit records due to the omicron variant, the numbers of severe cases and hospitalizations have not.
“We’re now in a totally different phase,” said Monica Gandhi, an immunologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “The virus is always going to be with us, but my hope is this variant causes so much immunity that it will quell the pandemic.”
While experts caution that they still need more data, one study from South Africa found that patients admitted to the hospital there during the omicron-dominated fourth wave of the virus were 73% less likely to have severe disease than patients admitted during the delta-dominated third wave.
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