Airlines canceled more than 1,000 US flights on Thursday and have already canceled 500 from Friday’s schedule, threatening to throw off weekend flights home for holiday travelers.
European countries including France, the UK, Spain and Italy continue to see a large increase in Covid-19 cases, with several nations setting new pandemic records.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against attending large-scale New Year’s Eve celebrations, suggesting people opt for smaller gatherings with vaccinated and boosted family and friends.
Our live coverage has ended. Read more about the coronavirus pandemic here.
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New York state records 74,000 new positive Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Taylor Romine
New York reported more than 74,000 new positive Covid-19 cases across the state, once again breaking its single-day record.
Cases rose by 82% since Monday when the state reported a total of 40,780 new Covid-19 cases, according to a statement from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
The daily percent positivity is 22.05% with the 7-day average at 16.21%.
Hospitalizations also continue to rise with a reported 7,373 total hospitalizations, up by almost 20% since Monday, state data showed.
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Covid-19 cases soar as Sydney prepares New Year's Eve party
From CNN’s Hannah Ritchie
The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) announced 21,151 Covid-19 cases Friday, a jump of close to 10,000 from the previous day’s count.
The skyrocketing caseload comes as state capital Sydney prepares its famous New Year’s Eve fireworks show with no Covid-19 restrictions imposed on the public.
Ticketed spaces on the Sydney Harbour foreshore will host a reduced number of guests, but no caps will be enforced on private gatherings.
NSW police have asked the public to avoid overcrowded areas of the city unless they have a ticket to view the fireworks display from a particular vantage point.
Some context: The 21,151 cases detected in the 24-hour period leading into Friday are the highest reported by any Australian jurisdiction since the pandemic began.
The positive results came from 148,410 tests conducted, NSW Health stated.
The majority of NSW cases were found in Sydney.
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Canadian province of Ontario will offer a fourth vaccine shot to vulnerable residents
From CNN’s Paula Newton
Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, will now offer a fourth shot of an mRNA vaccine to its most vulnerable residents, just three months after their third dose.
This will apply to residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, Elder Care Lodges and other congregate care settings, health officials said.
In another significant move, Ontario announced it would no longer offer free, public Covid-19 testing to all residents, instead reserving tests for high-risk individuals who are symptomatic and are at risk of severe illness from Covid-19, and workers and residents in the highest risk settings, as well as vulnerable populations.
Some context: About two in every five Canadians live in Ontario which means beginning Friday, daily case counts alone will no longer be a reliable indicator of the progression of the virus in Canada as even those who are symptomatic will not be tested for the virus.
Moore said those who are symptomatic and do not qualify for testing should assume they are infected with Covid-19 and isolate according to provincial health guidelines.
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Biden administration urges Supreme Court not to block vaccine mandate for large employers
From CNN's Dan Berman
A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to a person at a drive-thru site on December 16, in Miami.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Biden administration on Thursday told the Supreme Court it shouldn’t block its vaccine mandate and testing requirement for companies with more than 100 people, citing the continued spread of Covid-19 and potential dangers going forward.
The rule is “saving thousands of lives and preventing hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations in the next six months alone,” the Justice Department wrote in a filing.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration — an agency that falls under the US Labor Department and is charged with ensuring safe workplaces — unveiled the new rule on Nov. 4. It said that it had the authority to act under an emergency temporary standard meant to protect employees if they are exposed to a “grave danger.” It requires businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated or undergo regular testing and wear a face covering at work.
Should the court choose to block the vaccine requirement, the Justice Department said justices should leave the rest, including the testing and mask mandates, in place.
“Although vaccination is the most effective means of mitigating the grave danger of Covid-19 in the workplace, OSHA specifically found that masking and testing is ‘essential’ for employees who remain unvaccinated to ‘reduce the risk’ of employees’ ‘transmit[ting]’ the virus to other employees at work,” the Justice Department wrote.
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NBA postpones 11th game this season due to Covid-19 issues
From CNN's David Close
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has postponed Thursday night’s Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets game due to Covid-19 issues within the Nuggets team.
The league said Denver did not have the league-required minimum of eight players available to proceed with the game.
The Nuggets listed 11 players on Thursday’s injury report with either an injury, illness (non-Covid-19) or who are in health and safety protocols.
According to the NBA, the league has postponed 11 games this season due to Covid-19 issues.
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Israel will only administer a fourth Covid-19 shot to immune suppressed people
From CNN's Andrew Carey
Israel will begin administering a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people with suppressed immune systems starting Friday.
A decision by the director general of the health ministry, Nachman Ash, to make a fourth dose available to anybody 60 and older, as well as to medical staff, remains on hold, despite it being hailed as a done deal by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last week.
In response to the announcement Thursday evening, Bennett said in a statement, “Israel will lead the way in administering a fourth vaccine to the Israeli people. Israel’s strategy for overcoming omicron is clear: the greater the wave, the greater the protection we will need to overcome it.”
That more temperate message contrasted with the prime minister’s almost celebratory response just moments after the panel of coronavirus experts announced their initial recommendation for a wider roll-out of the fourth dose ten days ago.
Some context: Since that recommendation last week, Ash has been weighing the advice from his coronavirus experts (in favor of a fourth dose,) against data from South Africa and the UK regarding the severity of the omicron variant.
His decision-making also takes place in the knowledge that the Israeli government is desperate to avoid introducing any sort of lockdown measures and has made vaccination the overwhelming priority of its pandemic policy.
In a second decision Thursday, Ash approved shortening the gap between the second and third doses from five to three months because, “in light of the omicron wave, the need to raise the level of immunity among the entire population is growing as fast as possible.”
The number of new cases of the virus in Israel continues to grow steeply, topping 4,000 on Wednesday, more than five times the number two weeks ago.
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US pediatric hospital admissions reach record high, CDC data shows
From CNN's Virginia Langmaid
Pediatric hospital admissions in the US are the highest they’ve ever been over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On average, 378 children were admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 on any given day over the week that ended Dec. 28, according to data published Thursday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
This is an increase of more than 66% from the previous week, and it breaks the previous record average of 342 children admitted to the hospital that was seen at the end of August and early September.
More than 76,000 children ages 17 and younger have been hospitalized with Covid-19 since August 2020.
Currently, 0.52 children are hospitalized with Covid-19 for every 100,000 children in the population. This breaks the previous record of 0.47 children hospitalized, set on Sept. 2.
Pediatric hospital admissions are up by more than 50% in the past week in HHS regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9, which includes the East Coast, South and Southwest.
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Daily Covid-19 cases top 189,000 in the UK, a new record
From CNN's Nada Bashir
A medical worker prepares to take a sample from a person at a coronavirus testing center in London on December 18.
(Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images)
The United Kingdom has, once again, registered a record-breaking number of new Covid-19 cases reported within a 24-hour period, with 189,213 cases reported Thursday.
This latest increase surpassed Wednesday’s daily tally of new cases which stood at 183,037.
Another 19,544 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported across the UK as of Thursday, bringing the total Omicron case count to 229,666.
“Data has shown that Omicron cases now constitute more than 90% of all community Covid-19 cases in England,” the Health and Security Agency said.
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Canada's Ontario province will offer a fourth Covid-19 shot to vulnerable residents
From CNN’s Paula Newton
In a significant update to vaccine distribution, Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, will now offer a fourth shot of an mRNA vaccine to its most vulnerable residents three months after their third dose.
This will apply to residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, elder care lodges and other congregate care settings.
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South Africa eases Covid-19 restrictions following a decline in new cases
From CNN’s Ghazi Balkiz
People walk in Sandton, Johannesburg, on December 15.
(Luca Sola/AFP/Getty Images)
The South African government has announced that it will relax some Covid-19 restrictions with immediate effect following a decline in both new coronavirus cases and hospital admissions, adding that “all indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak” of the fourth wave.
According to a government statement issued Thursday, the national curfew will now be lifted and alcohol establishments licensed to operate beyond 11 p.m. local time will revert back to their full license conditions.
Previously, under “Alert Level 1” regulations, a curfew had been in place from midnight until 4 a.m. local time, with the sale of alcohol not permitted during these hours.
Under new guidance, public gatherings will also now be restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors — as opposed to 750 people — with outdoor gatherings still limited to 2,000 people.
According to data from the South African Department of Health, a 29.7% decrease in the number of new cases was reported in the week ending Dec. 25, in comparison to the previous week.
While data has shown a “marginal increase” in deaths across all provinces, the department of health has seen a decline in hospital admissions across the country, with the exception of the Western Cape.
“While the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalization than in previous waves. This means that the country has spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services,” the government said in its statement.
Despite the easing of some restrictions, the government has cautioned that the risk of an increase in infections remains high, owing to the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
In light of this, the wearing of masks in public places will continue to be enforced as a mandatory measure, and citizens are urged to continue observing public health protocols.
The announcement comes a week after the government outlined its new quarantine regulations, with those exposed to a positive coronavirus case no longer required to quarantine or test unless they develop symptoms.
Those who have been exposed to a positive case, but remain asymptomatic, will instead be asked to practice “self-observation” for five to seven days to monitor for the development of symptoms.
Contact tracing has also been halted in South Africa, with the exception of cluster outbreaks or self-contained settings.
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Arkansas sets new single-day record for Covid-19 cases since start of pandemic
From CNN’s Caroll Alvarado
Arkansas has set a new single-day record for Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started, with 4,978 residents testing positive in the last 24 hours, according to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said Thursday that he has directed the Department of Health to acquire 1.5 million at-home rapid tests to be made available for free to Arkansans.
As of Wednesday, hospitalizations have not increased, according to Hutchinson, who said he’s focused on monitoring hospitalizations.
Hutchinson added that the state does not plan to change its approach to in-person learning and each school district will be allowed to decide whether to mandate masks.
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US Omicron cases could peak by late January, Fauci says
From CNN's Virginia Langmaid
Health workers administer Covid-19 PCR tests at an outdoor testing site on December 28, in Stamford, Connecticut.
(John Moore/Getty Images)
The Covid-19 case increase associated with the Omicron variant could peak in the US by the end of January, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNBC on Wednesday.
“I would imagine, given the size of our country, and the diversity of vaccination versus not vaccination, that it likely will be more than a couple of weeks, probably by the end of January, I would think,” Fauci added.
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Spain reports record-high daily new Covid-19 case count for third consecutive day
From CNN’s Al Goodman in Madrid
Spain reported at least 161,688 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, setting a record for the third consecutive day for the highest number of new cases in a 24-hour reporting period, the country’s health ministry has confirmed.
Wednesday’s figure was 100,760 — the first time Spain surpassed 100,000 cases in a day since the pandemic began — while Tuesday showed 99,671 new cases.
According to government data, Spain’s infection rate increased to 1,775 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days — up from Wednesday’s figure of 1,508 cases per 100,000.
Pressure on intensive care wards across Spain has also increased, according to official data, with 19.4% of intensive care unit beds occupied by Covid-19 patients.
While cases are on the rise, Spanish officials say the nation’s high vaccination rate will provide some defense against the rapidly expanding Omicron variant.
Data shows that 89.9% of Spaniards age 12 years and above — or 37.8 million people — have now been fully vaccinated, while 10.6 million have now received a booster shot.
In addition, nearly 27% of children ages 5 to 11 have received a first shot since pediatric vaccinations began this month.
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2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show postponed due to Omicron surge
From CNN's Kiely Westhoff
A dog competes in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on February 11, 2020, in New York City.
(Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
The 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be postponed due to the surge of the Covid-19 variant Omicron in New York City, the Westminster Kennel Club president announced Wednesday.
The club’s board of governors delayed the event, citing travel and event management disruptions from “the extraordinary spread of the Omicron variant,” according to a statement from President Chat Reynders.
The 146th annual show was originally scheduled to be held in its traditional venue, Madison Square Garden, in January.
A new date will be selected for later in 2022 and will be released when it is confirmed, the board of governors’ statement said.
No spectators or vendors were permitted to attend the 2021 show due to the state’s Covid-19 regulations, and all human participants were required to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of entry.
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NYPD sickouts surpass previous peak levels in March 2020
From CNN's Mark Morales
NYPD cruisers are seen parked on October 29, in New York City.
(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The New York Police Department’s top brass says the percent of sickouts has surpassed pre-pandemic peak levels of March 2020, and the department is taking actions including canceling days off and switching shifts to make sure staffing is at appropriate levels.
Twenty-one percent of the NYPD staff is out sick, compared to approximately 19% in March 2020 at its previous peak, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news briefing Thursday.
The sickouts, however, are not expected to impact New Year’s Eve security plans for the truncated Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, police said.
The security response, police say, will be like years past, which include revelers passing through magnetometers, explosive trace detection machines, and heavy weapons and canine detection teams.
Vaccine status will be checked first before going through security checkpoints, police said. Vaccines and masks are required for the event, they reminded attendees.
As of now, there are no specific credible threats to the celebration, the NYPD said.
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These are some of the major cities that are canceling their big New Year's Eve events
From CNN's Forrest Brown
In New York City, the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be “scaled back,” with fewer revelers and everyone required to wear a mask, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office said last week.
But some major cities in Europe, where the spread of Omicron has been startling, have already announced they’re flat-out canceling plans.
On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci repeated his warning that people should avoid large New Year’s Eve gatherings and stick with small gatherings of vaccinated family or close friends.
The following cities have already announced they’re canceling their big shindigs:
Athens: No fireworks show over the Acropolis this year. Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris said during a news briefing on Dec. 23, that all public Christmas and New Year celebrations planned by municipalities are canceled.
Atlanta: Georgia’s capital city is canceling the New Year’s Eve Peach Drop at Underground Atlanta because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases, according to a tweet from Underground Atlanta.
Berlin: Germany will impose strict contact restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 starting on Dec. 28 and prohibit New Year’s Eve gatherings, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Dec. 21. That means no big fireworks gathering in Berlin, the capital, nor in other big gathering spots such as Munich and Frankfurt.
Edinburgh: Public New Year’s Eve celebrations in Scotland will be canceled, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Dec. 21. In a statement, Sturgeon explained details for post-Christmas restrictions on large events to blunt the spread of Omicron.
London: A planned New Year’s Eve event in London has been canceled over Covid-19 concerns, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted on Dec. 20. “Due to the surge in Covid cases, we’ve taken the difficult decision to cancel our NYE event in Trafalgar Square,” Khan tweeted. “The safety of all Londoners must come first.”
New Delhi: The government of India’s union territory of Delhi, which encompasses the national capital of New Delhi, has announced a ban on all social, cultural, political and festival gatherings until further notice because of a rise in Covid-19 cases, CNN’s New Delhi Bureau reports.
Paris: Paris has canceled its traditional fireworks display over the Champs-Elysées Avenue to welcome the New Year because of the renewed coronavirus surge. “The fireworks will not take place, nor unfortunately will there be any DJ sets,” the mayor’s office told AFP in a report on France24.com. French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Dec. 17, that major public parties and fireworks would be banned on New Year’s Eve and recommended that even vaccinated people take a self-test before getting together for year-end parties, according to Reuters.
Rome: In Italy, Rome is among several cities that have decided to cancel festivities over Covid health concerns. Large New Year’s Eve celebrations across the country have been canceled, including open air concerts and fireworks in Venice. Nightclubs will be closed for the month of January as well. The Campania region has also banned feasts and alcohol consumption in public areas from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1.
See which cities are still moving forward with their NYE’s plans here.
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Greece reports another record-high in new daily Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Mia Alberti and Chris Liakos
Greece has reported a new record-high in the number of daily Covid-19 cases with 35,580 additional cases registered on Thursday, according to government data.
A further 72 coronavirus-related deaths were also reported Thursday.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Thanos Plevris announced a series of new restrictions as part of the government’s efforts to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
The measures include the closure of hospitality and entertainment venues at midnight, a ban on standing customers and a maximum limit of six people per table, reduced sports venue capacity and the reintroduction of 50% remote working for public and private sectors.
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Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 92% effective at preventing Covid-19 in ages 12-17, CDC data shows
From CNN's Katherine Dillinger
A Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is prepared for administration at a vaccination clinic on September 22, in Los Angeles.
(Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
The mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech is 92% effective at preventing Covid-19 in young people ages 12 to 17, according to data published Thursday in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The researchers looked at 243 adolescents with no previous positive Covid-19 tests in Arizona between July 25 and Dec. 4. The teens or their parents took nasal swabs and sent them in for weekly PCR testing. Twenty-one teens tested positive during the study period, and 18 of them reported symptoms. The findings are consistent with clinical trials and other studies, the researchers report.
The study took place during a period when Delta was the dominant circulating variant of the coronavirus. Early findings suggest that the latest variant, Omicron, may be less sensitive to vaccines. A booster dose raises protection levels, but boosters have not been approved for children and teens in the US.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for people as young as 16, and it’s available under an emergency use authorization for ages 5 to 15.
Other research published in the MMWR on Thursday found that reports of serious adverse events were rare in children ages 5 to 11 who got the vaccine.
The study looked at reports of two safety surveillance systems, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and v-safe, from Nov. 3 to Dec. 19. During this period, about 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were given to kids 5-11.
VAERS received 4,249 reports of adverse events, and more than 97% were not serious. One hundred serious events were reported, most commonly fever, vomiting and increased levels of troponin, a protein found in the heart muscle. There were 12 reports of seizure and 15 reports of myocarditis, of which 11 were verified.
More on the study: V-safe enrolled 42,504 vaccinated children ages 5-11. After the first dose of the vaccine, 54.8% reported local reactions and 34.7 reported systemic reactions; after the second dose, 57.5% reported local reactions and 40.9% reported systemic reactions. The most commonly reported reactions were pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.
The researchers noted that their findings are consistent with clinical trials and that both VAERS and v-safe rely on reports that may be biased or underreported. “Parents and guardians of children ages 5 to 11 years should be advised that local and systemic reactions are expected after vaccination,” they wrote. “Vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent Covid-19 infection.”
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Japanese government: No Covid spread occurred between Tokyo 2020 participants and locals
From CNN's Hande Atay Alam
There was no spread of Covid-19 between participants of the postponed 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo this year and the local population, according to genomic sequencing data confirmed by the government of Japan.
The positive cases in the Olympic Village and those of Japanese residents were unrelated, the government report said.
The data was released by Dr. Saito Tomoya, director of the Centre of Emergency Preparedness and Response of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases, during the International Olympic Committee World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport.
According to Saito, the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in Japan originated from the initial Delta strain that first entered the country around May, two months before the Games. This variant is not endemic anywhere else in the world. “That means there is no evidence that the virus was spread to the rest of the world by participants in Tokyo 2020. And no epidemic other than AY.29 in Japan means that virus strains that were brought in by the participants did not spread in Japan,” he said.
This data also provided the breakdown of Covid-19 cases between athletes and officials and the other accredited participants of the Games.
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Avoid cruises regardless of vaccination status, CDC advises
From CNN’s Naomi Thomas
A cruise ship is pictured docked in New York city on December 5, 2021.
(Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images)
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased the risk level for cruise ship travel to its highest level and said cruise travel should be avoided, regardless of vaccination status.
“The COVID-19 Travel Health Notice level has been updated from Level 3 to Level 4, the highest level,” the CDC website said on Thursday. “This reflects increases in cases onboard cruise ships since identification of the Omicron variant.”
The CDC said people should avoid cruise travel, regardless of whether they are vaccinated. Those who do travel on a cruise ship should make sure they are fully vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. People who go on a cruise should also get tested one to three days before their trip, and three to five days after, regardless of vaccination status.
For the unvaccinated, they should also self-quarantine for five full days after. People on cruise ships should also wear masks in shared places, the CDC said.
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NYC Times Square New Year's Eve celebration should've been canceled, CNN medical analyst says
The 2022 sign that will be lit on top of a building on New Year's Eve is displayed in Times Square, New York, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021.
(Seth Wenig/AP)
New York City’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Time Square should’ve been canceled due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.
London and Paris are among major European cities that have canceled New Year’s Eve celebrations due to the latest Covid-19 surge.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner.
(CNN)
Reiner said Americans need to hunker down for the next few weeks.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has defended the decision to hold a scaled-down Times Square celebration, which will have fewer revelers and a mask requirement, saying the event will “send a message to the world [that] New York City is open.”
“The way to deal with Covid is not shutdowns,” de Blasio said this morning. “It’s even more in terms of vaccination, doubling down on vaccinations.”
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FDA expected to broaden Pfizer Covid-19 booster eligibility to ages 12-15 in days, source says
From CNN’s Kaitlan Collins
A child receives a dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine at an event launching school vaccinations in Los Angeles, California on November 5.
(Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to broaden eligibility for Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine boosters to youths ages 12 to 15 in the coming days, according to a person familiar with the agency’s plan.
People as young as 16 are already eligible to receive boosters of the Pfizer vaccine six months after their two-dose series. Youths ages 12 to 15 have been eligible to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine since May; as of early July, about four million people in this age group had been fully vaccinated and would be eligible for a booster immediately.
When asked on Wednesday about boosters for adolescents and younger teens, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CNN that the FDA “is looking at that right now; of course the CDC will swiftly follow as soon as we hear from them, and I’m hoping to have that in … the days to weeks ahead.”
US health officials have been pushing for months for adults to get boosted, especially after the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Studies have already shown the two-dose Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine does not provide sufficient protection against infection with the Omicron coronavirus variant, although it still appears to help protect against severe disease. A booster dose increased protection significantly, studies have shown.
The latest timeline for people ages 12 to 15 was first reported by The New York Times. The Times also reported that the booster schedule will shift from six months after the primary dose series to five months, and a booster shot is expected to be authorized for children ages 5 to 11 with immune deficiencies.
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Italy reports new daily record of Covid-19 infections
From CNN’s Nicola Ruotolo in Rome
People line up at a rapid swab testing site in Rome on Thursday, Dec. 30.
(Andrew Medichini/AP)
Italy has reported a new record of 126,888 daily Covid-19 cases, government data showed Thursday, as well as 156 further coronavirus-related deaths.
According to the data released by the Health Ministry of Italy, an additional 288 patients were hospitalized, while 41 patients have now been admitted to intensive care.
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Uruguay detects first cases of Omicron variant
From CNN’s Karol Suarez
The first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Uruguay, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The health ministry recommended the population to get their booster shots “as soon as possible, especially among high priority populations, who remain unvaccinated, or are not yet fully vaccinated.”
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NYC mayor-elect outlines plan to combat Covid-19 in the new year
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
Mayor-elect Eric Adams speaks during an announcement at Brooklyn Borough Hall, New York on December 28 2021 where he said new COVID pandemic policy will be announced after he takes office in 2022.
Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams and city officials Thursday unveiled his plan to combat Covid-19 in the new year, with officials notably teasing that the private sector vaccine mandate will stay in effect and a decision on whether to mandate vaccines for students is to be decided by the spring.
Adams said Covid-19 is a “formidable” opponent worthy of a “formidable plan.”
“We must allow our city to function,” he said adding he intends to “follow the science,” promote equity in resources and overall, “be smatter, live with Covid, and protect everyday New Yorkers.”
Vaccines and booster still remain the “best weapons in our arsenal” he said, adding the overall objective is to “keep our city open.”
The plan focuses on six priorities: vaccination; supporting hospitals and congregate settings; testing; treatment; slowing the spread; and safer schools.
The current NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, who will stay on through March, said the private sector mandate will stay in effect in the new year.
“Studying it encompasses both following the emerging science on the importance of booster doses with Omicron as well as understanding the impact of the mandate on the settings it would apply to,” he added.
The city will set a deadline of this spring for a decision about a vaccine mandate in schools that would, if decided upon, commence later in 2022, Chokshi said.
While the city added 60 more testing sites after the emergence of Omicron, test and trace will continue to stand up more sites, he added.
The incoming NYC health commissioner said the city will also focus on upping access to monoclonal antibodies including oral medication with a “focus on equity” and reaching underserved, high risk populations.
The city also plans to distribute 2 million high-grade masks via community based organizations and city health sites, said Dr. Ashwin Vasan, who will take over for Chokshi in March as health commissioner.
Vasan also added that the city plans to come up with a universal, color-coded system that shows level of threat at any time of Covid-19 within the city and indicates clearly what level of safety measures are in place.
More on the NYC Covid-19 plan: As previously announced by the current NYC mayor and leadership, as well as the governor, on Jan. 3 the city will implement the “stay safe stay open” plan, officials said.
This includes doubling surveillance testing in schools, adjusting the situation room and contact tracing protocols, sending home millions of rapid at-home tests, and strengthening mitigation including high quality masks and ventilation.
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Portugal will shorten Covid-19 isolation period from 10 to 7 days
From CNN’s Mia Alberti in Lisbon
Portugal will shorten its mandatory self-isolation period for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients from 10 to seven days, the national Directorate-General of Health (DGS) announced Thursday.
According to the DGS, the new guidance will come into effect by the end of next week.
On Thursday, Portugal reported a new record of 28,659 daily coronavirus cases, as well as 16 further Covid-19 related deaths.
Portugal’s decision comes a day after Spain’s health ministry announced it would reduced the quarantine time for people who tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 to seven days.
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Princeton University delays undergraduate return by one week due to Covid-19
From CNN's Taylor Romine
Ivy covers the walls of a building on the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 30, 2013.
(Craig Warga/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Princeton University announced on Monday that they are delaying undergraduate student returns by one week and will not allow students to travel outside of the county until mid-February.
Undergraduate students will only be allowed to return to campus no earlier than Jan. 14, instead of the previously planned date of Jan. 7, Dean Jill Dolan and Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun said in an email to the school.
In addition, the email says that undergraduate students will not be allowed to travel outside of Mercer County or neighboring Plainsboro Township in New Jersey, where the university is located, except in “extraordinary circumstances.” The travel ban will be in effect until mid-February, the school said, and it will revisit the policy by Feb. 15.
These measures are just a part of a larger plan to return to campus, which will also require undergraduate students to get tested once they arrive on campus and will not be allowed to attend class until they have a negative test. They will also be required to get a booster shot by Jan. 31, or within 30 days of the student is eligible, the email says.
All of these policies specifically apply to undergraduate students. It is not immediately clear what testing and travel requirements are in place for graduate students and faculty.
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Pediatrics association: Vast majority of US children admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 are unvaccinated
From CNN's Naomi Thomas
Dr. Lee Savio Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, talks to CNN’s New Day on Thursday 30 December 2021
(CNN)
Dr. Lee Savio Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN’s New Day Thursday that although they are still gathering the data, they are hearing from hospitals across the US that “the vast majority of the children who are being admitted are unvaccinated.”
Beers noted that at her own children’s hospital in Washington, DC, they are at an all-time peak of Covid-19 hospitalizations and about half of the them are children under five.
“I think it’s just so important for us to remember that we’re protecting ourselves, but we’re also protecting those little ones who aren’t yet eligible for vaccination,” Beers told CNN.
What the data is showing: US pediatric hospital admissions for Covid-19 are only 2.2% lower than their peak in early September, continuing a rapid increase since mid-December.
On average, 334 children have been admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 on any given day over the week that ended Dec. 27, according to data published Wednesday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
CNN’s Virginia Langmaid contributed reporting to this post.
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Paris makes wearing masks outdoors mandatory starting Friday
From CNN’s Eva Tapiero
People wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 as they walk in the alley of a funfair in Paris, France, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021. France's Health Minister Olivier Veran announced that the country recorded a new record high of 208,000 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the past 24 hours.
(Thibault Camus/AP)
Wearing a mask will be made mandatory in Paris’ outdoor public spaces starting Dec. 31, the Paris police prefecture said Wednesday.
The decision was made following “an incidence rate near 2,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a level never reached before, due in particular to the Omicron variant,” according to the prefecture.
France reported a daily record-breaking 208,099 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, Health Ministry data shows.
Some context: Spain, Greece and Italy are among a host of countries that mandated masks outdoors again last Friday due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
You can read more about the guidelines in Europe here.
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Study estimates 75% of people experiencing cold symptoms in UK are likely to have Covid-19
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy
Shoppers, some wearing face masks to guard against COVID-19, walk along Oxford Street in London, Monday, December 27, 2021.
(David Cliff/AP)
A study from health science company ZOE has estimated that 75% of people in the UK experiencing new cold like symptoms in fact have symptomatic Covid-19.
In a news release Thursday, the ZOE study said their “data is now showing a fall in the number of non-COVID ‘colds’ and a continued rise in symptomatic COVID infections.”
The figures for new symptomatic cases are based on reports “from around 840,000 weekly contributors and the proportion of newly symptomatic users who have received positive swab tests,” the release added.
The study which claims to be the world’s largest ongoing study on Covid-19 operates using scientific analysis from Kings College London and contributions from four million people globally.
As new cold like symptoms eclipse the traditional symptoms associated with the virus, the study’s scientists “want to see symptoms like sore throat, headache, and runny nose added” to the UK government list of symptoms “as soon as possible,” remarked ZOE study scientist Dr. Claire Steves.
The study also estimated that daily Covid-19 cases in the UK are set to surpass 200,000 in one to two days.
The study’s data estimates that the UK is in fact recording 192,290 new daily symptomatic cases of Covid-19 on average, based on PCR and Lateral Flow Test data from up to three days ago. At least 183,037 cases were recorded on the UK government dashboard Wednesday.
The UK’s “exponential growth in cases appears to have stopped,” Steves added, describing the current rise as “more steady.”
As cases among 55 to 77 year olds continue to rise, Steves predicted that “this will translate into more hospital admissions in the New Year.”
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6 Georgia health systems seeing 100 to 200% increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations
From CNN’s Jennifer Henderson
In the past eight days, six major health systems in the state of Georgia and metro Atlanta have experienced 100% to 200% increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations — with most of them coming from unvaccinated patients, according to a joint statement released by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, Grady Health System, Northeast Georgia Health System, Piedmont and Wellstar Health System.
The health systems are experiencing “a staggering surge in adults and children with Covid-19 symptoms and diagnoses,” at a time when the health systems are also preparing for an influx of flu patients, the statement says.
Because of significantly increased emergency room activity, the systems are asking people to seek Covid-19 testing elsewhere to keep emergency rooms available to those who have the most critical needs.
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Airlines cancel more than 1,000 flights on Thursday
From CNN's Greg Wallace and Jordan Valinsky
Travellers make their way through Miami International Airport on December 28, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Airline cancellations are surging Thursday for a seventh straight day and threaten to throw off weekend flights home for holiday travelers.
Carriers canceled more than 1,000 US flights on Thursday and have already canceled 500 from Friday’s schedule, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware.
In total, FlightAware recorded more than 8,500 US flight cancelations since Christmas Eve, when heavy holiday travel collided with a spike in coronavirus cases among industry workers and weather issues.
Alaska Airlines said winter weather in the Pacific Northwest are causing it to cancel one out of every five flights at Seattle, its headquarters, to “allow for the additional time it takes to deice aircraft.” It canceled 14% of Thursday flights and asked passengers who do not need to travel this week to reschedule for a later date.
JetBlue Airways told CNN it has “seen a surge in the number of sick calls from Omicron” and will cut its schedule for the next two weeks to “give our customers give as much notice possible to make alternate plans and reaccommodate them on other flights.” It told Reuters the cuts amount to about 1,280 flights, or 10% of its schedule. JetBlue canceled about 17% of flights on Thursday, FlightAware said.
Budget leisure carrier Allegiant Air canceled 17% of its flights, according to FlightAware, and warned customers telephone hold times were “unusually long.”
United Airlines canceled 8% of its Thursday schedule, which FlightAware data show is about its average since Christmas Eve, and told CNN it is “managing this day by day.”
Delta Air Lines canceled 3% of its Thursday schedule but warned that it expects storms headed for its hubs in Salt Lake City and Detroit to complicate travel “in the coming days.”
The weather impacts aren’t limited to snow and ice. The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged the jet stream weather pattern over the US was “stronger than usual” on Tuesday, reaching 170 knots in the air above the Great Lakes. A strong jet stream can slow west-bound travel and speed up east-bound flights at the high altitudes where aircraft operate.
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines told CNN it has “yet to see any impact on our operation” from coronavirus illnesses but is “closely monitoring this.” President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven told employees in a memo shared with CNN that Southwest carried 3 million passengers last week and canceled less than 1% of flights.
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More US states are at or near all-time peak Covid-19 hospitalization levels
From CNN's Matthew Hilk
Maryland and the District of Columbia are the latest to see all-time high hospitalization levels from Covid-19 — at a time when about 10 states are experiencing some of the highest hospitalization numbers of the pandemic.
According to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Maryland currently has 2,197 Covid-19 patients in the hospital, up 32% from just a week ago, topping the record previously set in January.
Washington, DC, has 514 Covid-19 cases in the hospital, more than double the number a week ago, and a far higher number than during any previous pandemic peak.
Ohio hospitalizations, 5,609, are nearly tied with the state’s all-time record of 5,759 in December 2020.
Four other states — Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri and Delaware — are all seeing hospital numbers at least 80% as high as their all-time records last winter, according to a CNN analysis of HHS data.
And four states — Michigan, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire — hit their all-time pandemic peak hospitalization numbers this month, according to a CNN review of the data, though all four have seen hospitalizations decline in the last few days.
Here’s a look at how 2021 US Covid-19 hospitalizations compare to 2020:
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NYC mayor: No plans to further scale back or cancel New Year’s Eve celebration
From CNN's Taylor Romine
People wearing 2022 hats and masks gather before confetti is released from the Hard Rock Cafe marquee during a ‘confetti test’ ahead of New Year’s Eve in Times Square on December 29, 2021 in New York City. On New Year’s Eve 3000 pounds of confetti will be released. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New Year's Eve in Times Square will be limited to 15,000 socially distanced visitors that will be required to be fully vaccinated due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
(Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there are no plans to further scale back or cancel the city’s big New Years’ Eve celebration, as the current precautions were approved by the city’s health leadership. He also emphasized that it’s crucial to hold the event “to send a message to the world, New York City is open.”
The mayor previously announced that the size of the event will be reduced, and the city will require masks on top of a previous requirement that everyone be vaccinated.
As the celebration is quickly approaching, de Blasio also attempted to assuage concerns over emergency services staffing, saying that while workers are calling out sick, most are experiencing mild illness.
“We have the ability to weather this for sure,” de Blasio said.
He lauded the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance to shorten the recommended isolation time for people who’ve tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five days if they don’t have symptoms.
“We want everyone to be healthy, but what we are seeing is very mild illnesses, thank God, [and] after five days, people coming right back on,” de Blasio said.
Currently, 30% of EMS workers and 17% of firefighters are on medical leave – compared to the 25% of EMS workers on medical leave in March and April of 2020, according to the FDNY.
Some members are out sick with Covid-19, there are others who have symptoms but have not yet confirmed diagnosis, and others who are just sick in general, they said.
The new year also brings the end of de Blasio’s administration.
CNN’s Laura Ly contributed to this post.
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JetBlue is canceling 1,280 flights through Jan. 13 as Omicron cases surge
From CNN's Jordan Valinsky
JetBlue planes at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021.
(Angus Mordant/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
JetBlue Airways is reducing its schedule by about 1,280 flights starting today through Jan. 13 because a growing number of crew members are getting infected with Covid-19.
The 1,280 flights amount to about 10% of JetBlue’s schedule.
Airlines have canceled hundreds of flights every day in the United States since Christmas Eve as they grapple with staff shortages due to Covid-19 infections and bad weather in parts of the country. JetBlue is based in New York, which reported a new record high of 67,000 positive cases on Tuesday.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled within, into or out of the US as of Thursday, according to FlightAware. JetBlue canceled 17% of its flights Thursday with another 4% flights delayed.
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Spanish police seize 300,000 antigen tests suspected of non-compliance
From CNN’s Al Goodman in Madrid
Spanish National Police have seized about 300,000 Covid-19 antigen tests from warehouses near Madrid on suspicion that they may not comply with established health procedures, the police said in a statement Thursday.
Dozens of police officers converged on Wednesday on five warehouses in the southern Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada and inspected 1 million packaged antigen tests, seizing 300,000 of them, according to the statement and the national police press office for Madrid.
The police suspect the tests may lack proper documentation or authorization to be distributed, the statement said.
The move comes amid shortages of home-use antigen tests as Covid-19 cases surge in Spain, spurred by the Omicron variant. To increase supply, the government has authorized six companies which make professional-use antigen tests to send them to pharmacies, for sale to the public, Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias said Wednesday.
The antigen tests were seized from four companies that operate in five warehouses. The police did not immediately name the companies, which face an investigation.
Police became aware of the suspect tests on Tuesday, and moved quickly, within a day, to inspect them and make the seizures, the statement said.
The police acted to ensure “the tests don’t give false information” to users trying to find out if they are positive for Covid-19, the national police press office for Madrid told CNN.
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Reports indicate J&J Covid-19 vaccine booster protects people against severe illness from Omicron variant
From CNN Health’s Maggie Fox
A healthcare prepares a dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from a vial outside a polling station in Laudium, Pretoria, on November 1, 2021, during South Africa's local elections.
(Phill Magakoe/AFP/Getty Images)
Two reports released Thursday show that people who get booster doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine are well protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the company said.
Data from one real-life study from South Africa showed vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization from Covid-19 rose to 85% after a booster dose of the J&J vaccine, even after the Omicron variant was circulating. And data from a lab-based study in the US indicated the vaccine stimulates a strong immune response from cells known as T-cells, which protect people against severe disease even if they don’t block the virus entirely from infecting the body.
Results from both studies were released by the company in a statement but are being submitted to a pre-print server and a peer-reviewed journal, the company said.
A team at the South African Medical Research Council helped examine the results of an ongoing study of the J&J vaccine there. They looked at results from 69,000 health care workers. “When a booster shot was administered six to nine months after a primary single dose, vaccine effectiveness increased over time from 63 percent at 0-13 days, to 84 percent at 14-27 days and 85 percent at 1-2 months post-boost,” J&J said in a statement.
“Even before you factor in the increased infectiousness of Omicron, we have to remember that healthcare workers on the frontlines are at a greatly increased risk of being affected by COVID-19 in the first place,” Dr. Glenda Gray, president and CEO of the SAMRC, said in a statement. “We are therefore encouraged to see that boosting with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine regimen provides strong protection in a challenging real-world setting where there is an elevated risk of exposure – not just to COVID-19, but to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.”
Separately, Dr. Dan Barouch and colleagues at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston looked at blood taken from 65 vaccinated volunteers and tested it against the Omicron variant. They looked at both antibodies – the first line of defense against infection – and T-cells.
Using the J&J vaccine as a booster for people who originally got two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine generated a 41-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies and a five-fold increase in the CD8 killer T cells that destroy cells infected by the virus. That stops the virus from replicating and spreading. Boosting with the Pfizer vaccine generated a 17-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies and a 1.4-fold increase in CD8 T cells four weeks later, they found.
“These data are important and these data are hopeful,” Barouch told CNN. They indicate that all Covid-19 vaccines can protect people from severe disease and death, even from the Omicron variant with all its mutations, he said.
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India's resident doctors strike nears third week, amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Esha Mitra in New Delhi
Junior doctors stage a protest to condemn the police action on a peaceful protest of resident doctors in Delhi who were agitating over delay in NEET counselling, at Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) in Guwahati, Assam, India on Wednesday, December 29, 2021.
(David Talukdar/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
Resident doctors in Delhi, India’s capital territory, continued to strike for a 14th consecutive day over the government’s delay in allocating hospitals to an incoming batch of doctors.
Resident doctors, who are currently employed, have boycotted their hospital duties and held protests, the secretary of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association in India, Anuj Aggarwal, said.
The delay has been caused by a Supreme Court hearing on quotas for doctors with lower incomes in medical colleges, which the government says they have to wait for in order to allocate hospitals to incoming resident doctors. India’s health minister has said there is nothing they can do until the Supreme Court makes its ruling.
On Thursday, doctors gathered again outside hospitals in Delhi in a socially distanced protest, after police allegedly issued citations on Covid compliance against the group, Aggarwal told CNN. Resident doctors’ associations across the country have expressed their support for the movement.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held another political gathering, with thousands in attendance, in Uttarakhand ahead of the state’s elections. While some were wearing masks, many were not, as seen in a live telecast of the event by the government’s press bureau.
India’s election commission said at a press conference Thursday that decisions on limiting rallies would be taken once election dates were announced.
On Thursday, 13,154 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in India, a 43% rise on the previous day, according to figures from the health ministry. While nearly a third of India’s states have issued some restrictions limiting movement, no national restrictions have been issued on large gatherings.
Earlier, the Indian Medical Association expressed concern about the delay in allocations of resident doctors ahead of a potential third wave of Covid-19 in the country. They said in a statement on December 23 it had resulted in a “shortage of 45,000 doctors on the frontline.”
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England to build temporary hospital structures, with NHS on "war footing"
From CNN’s Martin Goillandeau and Niamh Kennedy
A member of a construction team works on the erection of a temporary field hospital in the grounds of St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London on December 30, 2021, as the number of daily Covid-19 cases has increased, fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant. - England is set to open temporary field hospitals to contain a possible overspill of inpatients due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the national health service said Thursday.
(Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images)
England’s National Health Service (NHS) said Thursday that it will set up new coronavirus “surge hubs” at hospitals across the country, part of its “preparations for a potential wave of Omicron admissions.”
“Temporary structures capable of housing around 100 patients will be erected in the grounds of eight hospitals across the country, with work starting as early as this week,” a statement published on NHS England’s website read.
“Given the high level of COVID-19 infections and increasing hospital admissions, the NHS is now on a war footing,” NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis said. The UK has previously built the “Nightingale” hospital units during earlier waves of the pandemic.
“We do not yet know exactly how many of those who catch the virus will need hospital treatment, but given the number of infections we cannot wait to find out before we act and so work is beginning from today to ensure these facilities are in place,” Powis added.
On Wednesday, the UK registered a record 183,037 new cases of Covid-19, according the government data. The latest available data also shows that on Monday, there were 1,751 new hospital admissions in England, representing a 65% increase over the course of one week. 1,061 new admissions were recorded on December 20.
The statement also read that “NHS staff have been working over Christmas on the plans to create 4,000 ‘super surge’ beds across the health service.”
According to figures published by NHS England, there were 10,462 beds occupied by Covid patients in England on Wednesday, a number rising over 10,000 for the first time since March 2021. Deaths and hospitalizations have been usually slower to show up in the Covid data, often following rising infections after a few weeks.
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Alleged Chinese smugglers publicly shamed for breaching Covid rules
From CNN's Nectar Gan and Beijing Bureau
Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures — a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media.
On Tuesday, four people wearing hazmat suits, face masks and goggles were paraded in Jingxi city, Guangxi province — each carrying placards showing their names and photos on their chest and back, according to videos shared on social media and republished by state media outlets.
Each suspect was held by two officers — also wearing hazmat suits and face shields. They were surrounded by yet another circle of police, some holding machine guns and in riot gear, while a large crowd looked on.
The four people were suspected of helping others to illegally cross China’s borders, which have been largely sealed during the pandemic as part of the country’s “zero-Covid policy,” according to the state-run Guangxi Daily,
The punishment was aimed at deterring border-related crimes and encouraging public compliance with epidemic prevention and control measures, the Guangxi Daily said.
On Tuesday, authorities in Jingxi formally arrested two suspects accused of transporting two Vietnamese immigrants into China in October. One of the immigrants tested positive for coronavirus, causing schools to shut, nearly 50,000 residents to undergo home isolation and more than 10,000 tests to be conducted, according to a report on the Jingxi government website. It is unclear if the two suspects were among the four people paraded on Tuesday.
China's Xi'an lockdown hits some of the world's largest chipmakers
From CNN's Diksha Madhok
Two of the world’s biggest chipmakers are warning that Covid-19 outbreaks and stringent lockdowns in a major Chinese industrial hub are hampering their operations.
Samsung and Micron said this week that they’ve had to adjust operations in the northwestern city of Xi’an, which is experiencing one of China’s worst community outbreaks of the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities have responded by enacting sweeping measures with an intensity and on a scale rarely seen since Wuhan, the pandemic’soriginal epicenter.
Any slowdown in output from the city risks worsening the global chip shortage, an ongoing crisis that has limited the supply of everything from iPhones to new cars.
India sees sharp rise in cases as doctors' strike sparks fear of frontline shortages
From CNN's Esha Mitra in New Delhi
People rush to board a DTC bus after Delhi governments decision to run DTC buses with 50 percent capacity in wake of rising Covid-19 cases on December 29, 2021 in New Delhi, India. Amid a spike in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of the Omicron variant, Delhi govt has declared a 'yellow alert' under which schools, colleges, cinemas and gyms shall be closed.
(Amal KS/Hindustan Times/Getty Images)
India on Thursday reported a second consecutive day of surging Covid-19 cases, with 13,154 new infections — a 43% rise from the previous day.
Earlier this month, India’s Health Ministry noted “initial signs of a surge,” with doctors on the ground warning they were seeing an influx in cases — now reflected in the daily case count.
Political gatherings: On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a political gathering set to draw thousands in the state of Uttarakhand, where an election looms early next year. Modi has held several such gatherings in other states including multiple events in Uttar Pradesh this month.
Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state, and a critical battleground in the upcoming state elections. Other political parties have also been holding gatherings; Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a “victory march” in Chandigarh, Punjab, where he won local elections on Thursday.
Medical experts have warned that holding such large events without proper Covid precautions could risk further spreading Omicron — though Delta is currently still the prevalent variant in India.
Doctors on strike: The availability of manpower could be a critical factor during a potential third wave, with resident doctors in Delhi striking for 14 consecutive days. The Indian Medical Association has warned of a shortage of 45,000 doctors on the frontline due to a delay in allocating new doctors to hospitals.
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Japan sees jump in Covid-19 cases after months of steady decline
From CNN's Emi Jozuka and Yuki Kurihara in Tokyo
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses the public in a video posted on Twitter and YouTube.
(Office of the Prime Minister of Japan/YouTube)
Japan reported 501 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday — the first time the country has exceeded the 500 mark in more than two months.
The rise in cases, after a long stretch of low infection numbers, sparked concern as the public prepared to travel across the country to celebrate the New Year.
In a video message posted on Twitter Wednesday, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to reinforce measures to prevent the community spread of Omicron infections by preparing for “worst-case scenarios.”
Japan has fully vaccinated close to 80% of its population as of December 27. Cases had nosedived in recent months across the country, with fewer than 100 reported cases a day since October, after previously topping 25,000 daily infections during the summer.
But Japan reported its first locally transmitted case of Omicron on December 23 — and cases of the highly transmissible variant have been slowly rising nationwide.
Cases on US military bases: In a news release Wednesday, officials at the US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, said 80 personnel had tested positive for Covid.
That’s the highest number reported on the base in a single day.
Meanwhile, at the Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, nearly 300 people have been confirmed to be infected so far, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. Japan’s Foreign Ministry believes 47% of the samples are of the Omicron variant.
At a news conference last week, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said US forces in Japan didn’t test their personnel before they left the United States, in a move that undermines Tokyo’s request to follow its border control measures.
Japan had urged the US military to adhere to coronavirus testing and quarantine rules last Wednesday, as the Camp Hansen cluster grew.
In response, Marine Forces Japan have reinstituted mask mandates for everyone on-base regardless of vaccination status, except for activities like eating or exercising.
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Covid numbers stay high in China's Xi'an, where 13 million people have been on lockdown for a week
From CNN’s Beijing Bureau
Despite having been under strict lockdown for a week, the Chinese city of Xi’an continues to report high numbers of new daily cases.
The city, in Shaanxi province, reported 155 cases on Wednesday — the fifth straight day it has seen more than 150 new infections.
That brings the city’s total to 1,117 cases since the outbreak began earlier this month.
All 13 million residents have been under lockdown since December 23, with each household only allowed to send one person to buy groceries every other day.
However, local authorities say the daily case count could begin to decline, now the city has gone through four rounds of mass testing since December 21.
Apart from the Xi’an cases, one other locally transmitted case was reported Thursday in southern Guangxi province, while 51 cases were imported from overseas, according to China’s National Health Commission.
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As Omicron spreads in India, mass gatherings spark fears of another wave
From CNN's Jessie Yeung, Esha Mitra and Arpit Goel
Doctors in India are bracing for a potential third wave driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, as cases rise and political leaders hold mass gatherings ahead of key elections.
In the past week, India’s Omicron case numbers have more than tripled, with 781 infections now recorded, compared to 236 last Tuesday.
It may not seem that many in a nation of 1.3 billion people, but the variant’s rapid spread in other countries — several of which are now seeing dramatic surges — is enough to make health experts nervous. And the real number of Omicron cases is likely higher than official figures due to insufficient testing.
For the past month,India has been steadily reporting 6,000 to 9,000 total Covid cases a day — but several of the country’s biggest cities have seen infections spike in recent weeks.
The financial hub Mumbai, which had been reporting 600 to 800 new daily cases in previous weeks, recorded 2,510 cases on Wednesday. New Delhi, the national capital, also saw more than 900 cases Wednesday — a sharp increase from the start of the month, when daily new cases had hovered in the dozens.
The federal Health Ministry warned last week of “initial signs of a surge in cases of Covid-19,” with researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology projecting a third wave could peak between late winter and early spring.
The situation might sound familiar: In some ways, it echoes the past spring, right before the country was ravaged by a second coronavirus wave from March through June. The surge completely overwhelmed India’s health care system, with no beds, oxygen supplies, or medicine left. Across the country, patients were turned away by overflowing hospitals and left dying on the streets.
