Five million residents in China’s central city of Anyang have started home confinement in a new lockdown to curb the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to state media.
China’s city of Xi’an, a city of 13 million people, was also placed under lockdown in late December.
Elsewhere, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure amid a new surge in cases, after an email was leaked inviting about 100 staff to bring drinks to a party during the country’s first lockdown in May 2020.
Here are the latest updates:
Mexico’s President Obrador tests positive for COVID again
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he tested positive for the coronavirus again amid the latest wave of infections in the country fuelled by the Omicron variant.
Lopez Obrador, who overcame the first bout of COVID-19 in early 2021, announced on Monday that he had tested positive for the virus and was experiencing mild symptoms.
“I inform you that I am infected with COVID-19 and although the symptoms are mild, I will remain in isolation and will only do office work and communicate virtually until I get through it,” tweeted Lopez Obrador, who received the AstraZeneca vaccine booster shot in December last year.
Read more here.
Bulgarian leaders in self-isolation after security meeting
Bulgaria’s prime minister, president and several senior ministers have gone into precautionary self-isolation after a participant at a security meeting they attended tested positive for the coronavirus.
Chief health inspector Angel Kunchev said all of the participants of the consultative National Security Council on Monday were in good health but they would stay in self-isolation after Parliament Speaker Nikola Minchev tested positive for the virus.
Along with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and President Rumen Radev, the meeting was attended by the ministers of interior, defence and finance, as well as a deputy foreign minister and senior members of main political parties.
China orders suspension of some US flights after COVID-19 cases
China’s aviation regulator has ordered the cancellation of more than 60 scheduled flights from the United States in recent weeks, after numerous passengers tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has mandated the cancellations of 22 total scheduled US passenger airline flights for Shanghai under its COVID-19 pandemic rules: 10 by Delta Air Lines, six from United Airlines and six American Airlines.
Delta said it canceled Detroit to Shanghai flights last Friday and for January 14 due to the Chinese rule requiring “all affected carriers”, whose passengers test positive for COVID-19, “to cancel inbound service on certain China flights.”
The CAAC said on Tuesday that it would cancel another two Delta flights from Detroit to Shanghai and another six Delta flights from Seattle to Shanghai from next week – bringing total cancellations to 10 for the airline.
Indonesia to kick off COVID-19 booster campaign
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has announced that the country will start giving third doses of COVID-19 vaccines to its population at no cost amid concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant.
The booster programme will start on Wednesday, with priority given to the elderly and other vulnerable groups, Widodo said.
“I have decided that third doses will be free for all of the Indonesian people because the safety of the people is our priority,” he said in a press conference.
Officials had earlier said that only citizens categorized as poor Would be eligible for free boosters. First and second shots are also given for free to all Indonesians. More than 170.5 million of 270 million Indonesians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with nearly 117 million having received the second dose.
A million set to throng India’s Ganges for holy dip despite COVID
Nearly one million Hindu worshippers are expected to gather on the banks of the Ganges River this Friday and Saturday for a holy bath despite rising COVID-19 infections across the country, an official has told the Reuters news agency.
India on Tuesday reported 168,063 new COVID-19 infections, a 20-fold rise in a month despite testing being well below capacity.
Most infected people have recovered at home and the level of hospitalisations has been less than half of that seen during the last major wave of infections in April and May.
Read more here.
Spain’s PharmaMar says potential COVID-19 treatment shows efficacy against Omicron
Spain’s PharmaMar has said that trials made in vitro and on animals showed its Plitidepsin drug had positive antiviral effects on the variants of COVID-19, including Omicron.
The results of Phase I trials have shown the drug, also known as Aplidin, had a powerful antiviral activity against all the variants in vitro and a distribution into the lungs of animals tested, resulting in a 99 percent reduction of viral load in the lungs, the company said.
The results of the trials were released in a paper published in the scientific journal Life Science Alliance, PharmaMar said.
The paper also reported positive effects of Phase I and II trials on patients.
British minister: I understand the hurt caused by lockdown party claims
The allegations of parties at Johnson’s Downing Street office will have caused hurt to people who lost loved ones to COVID-19 but there must be time for a full investigation to establish what happened, junior health minister Edward Argar said.
“I can understand the hurt that these reports, these allegations, will have caused, particularly for those who’ve lost loved ones,” Argar told Sky News following a new report of alleged rule breaking, adding it was right that Johnson had previously commissioned a civil servant to investigate similar allegations.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate… for me to comment on those ongoing conversations or her ongoing investigation. We’ve got to give a space to conclude that investigation.”
Heathrow hit by Omicron cancellations in December
Britain’s biggest airport Heathrow handled 19.4 million passengers in 2021, less than one quarter of pre-pandemic levels and lower than 2020, after Omicron sparked a run of cancellations in December.
The airport to the west of London said that at least 600,000 passengers cancelled travel plans from Heathrow in December as new travel restrictions came into force.
(Al Jazeera)
Poland’s total COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000
Poland’s health minister has said that the country’s total COVID-19 death toll has passed 100,000.
“Today we can say it is another sad day, but especially so because we have passed the level of 100,000 COVID deaths,” Adam Niedzielski told private broadcaster TVN 24.
Australia’s Omicron surge puts pressure on hospitals
Australia’s COVID-19 infections has surged to near record levels due to the Omicron variant putting a strain on hospitals already stretched by staff isolating after being exposed to the virus.
Australia reported nearly 86,000 cases on Tuesday, with two states due to report later.
“There is significant pressure in our health system,” the premier of Victoria state, Daniel Andrews, told a media briefing, adding about 4,000 hospital and 400 ambulance staff in the state were isolating due to virus protocols.
Chicago teachers to end COVID-19 walkout that shut out 340,000 students
Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest US education district, will resume in-person classes on Wednesday after a union backed ending a walkout over COVID-19 fears in an agreement it said would boost safeguards.
The teachers agreed to reinstate virtual instruction and a push for more rigorous safety protocols, including wider testing, as the Omicron variant spread.
The walkout had affected 340,000 students in Chicago, the third most populous city in the US.
Hong Kong airport to ban transit from high-risk nations
Bloomberg News is reporting that Hong Kong’s international airport is set to ban transit by passengers from designated high-risk countries from January 15 to February 14.
The report said that the ban will not apply to diplomats, government officials, athletes and staff participating in the Winter Olympics, which open on February 4 in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced on Tuesday that the city will start vaccinating children over 5 years old. She also announced the suspension of face-toface classes among kindergartens and primary schools until after the Lunar New Year, which will be on February 1 this year.
US weighs recommending N95 or KN95 masks against Omicron
According to a new Washington Post report, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering updating its mask guidance amid the new surge in cases due to the Omicron variant.
The report published late on Monday said that the CDC will likely advise people to opt for the highly protective N95 or KN95 masks worn by healthcare personnel.
Earlier on Monday, the US reported a record number of hospitalisations reaching 142,388 on Sunday – the highest since the pandemic began.
BREAKING—@CDCgov is now considering updating its mask guidance to recommend that people opt for #N95 or #KN95 masks worn by health-care personnel, if they can do so “consistently” (e.g. feel comfortable wearing all day)—c’mon, @CDCDirector—go all the way!https://t.co/9ZnusA4J5M
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 11, 2022
Duterte: We can’t wait for new law to restrain unvaccinated amid new surge
Amid the record-breaking number of cases in the last few days, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he cannot wait for a new law to be passed that would allow the unvaccinated Filipinos to be restrained.
“As I said, we have every right to restrain. We can’t wait for a law. Passing a law is very tedious in a democracy,” CNN Philippines quoted Duterte as saying during a recorded address to the nation that aired before midnight on Monday.
The Philippines hit a new daily record of more than 33,000 news cases on Monday, while also logging a new record positivity rate of 44 percent. On Tuesday, Duterte’s daughter, Sara Carpio, who is running for vice president, said she is against her father’s order to arrest or limit the movement of the unvaccinated.
Mexican president says he has COVID for second time
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has announced that he has contracted COVID-19 for a second time.
“I inform you that I am infected with COVID-19 and although the symptoms are mild, I will remain in isolation and will only do office work and communicate virtually until I get through it,” he posted on Twitter.
Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez will replace Lopez Obrador at his usual morning press conference and other public events while he recovers.
‘Bring your own booze!’: More party revelations hit Boris Johnson
The UK’s death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 150,000, and the Omicron wave is fuelling a new wave of admissions to hospital [File: Peter Cziborra/Reuters]UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure following revelations of a Downing Street party during the United Kingdom’s first lockdown in May 2020.
In an email leaked to ITV News, an aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited just more than 100 people working in 10 Downing Street to “socially distanced drinks” in the garden.
“Please join us at 6pm and bring our own booze!” it concluded.
About 30 to 40 people accepted the invitation.
At the time, people in the UK were allowed to meet only one person from outside their household in an outdoor public space provided they remained two metres apart.
Merck: Molnupiravir should be effective against Omicron
Merck’s COVID-19 oral pill molnupiravir can work against Omicron and any other variant, the company says.
“We’re very confident that it will affect Omicron … This mechanism in molecule (will) work for Omicron, and I would imagine against any variant that comes up,” Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said at JP Morgan’s annual healthcare conference.
Data on molnupiravir’s effect against Omicron is not yet available, but the pill was shown to be 30 percent effective at reducing hospital admissions and deaths, based on data from 1,433 patients, in data released in November.
The pill has secured regulatory authorisation from the US, UK, Japan and India.
Read all the updates from Monday here.
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