Health News at Your Fingertips

Australians are being urged to remain vigilant and maintain Covid-19 control measures in light of the new Omicron variant.

“It is not time to break the glass on the alarm, I don’t think, but I’m as concerned about this as I have been since Delta,” Burnet Institute director Brendan Crabb told ABC TV.

“A state of heightened alert and caution is appropriate for us in Australia and for the world.”

Professor Crabb described the new strain as having “a whole host of mutations that, I must say, makes me have a sharp inhalation of breath”.

He stressed the most important thing wasn’t borders, but keeping up vaccine coverage and infection control measures.

About 86% of Australians aged 16 and older are double-dosed.

Prof Crabb said this translated to between 72 and 73% of the entire population. Just 1.5% of the country have received a booster shot.

Hi everyone, it’s Samantha Lock here, ready to take you through all the Covid developments this Saturday.

So let’s dive right in.

More on the ‘disaster emergency’ declared by Kathy Hochul, governor of New York state.

Hochul confirmed no cases of the Omicron variant has so far been found in the state but cautioned authorities are “on high alert”.

“We continue to see warning signs of spikes in Covid this winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” she said in a tweet Friday evening.

Kathy Hochul, governor of New York state, has issued a Covid-19 “disaster emergency” declaration on Friday, citing increasing rates of infections and hospitalizations.

An order from the governor said the state was experiencing Covid-19 transmission “not seen since April 2020” and that hospital admissions has been increasing over the past month to over 300 a day. The state had to therefore “pursue a coordinated approach to ensure hospital capacity statewide is able to meet regional needs”.

Stocks in the US followed those in Asia and Europe by falling sharply on Friday in the wake of concerns about the new Covid variant.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 2.5%, its worst day since late October 2020, while the S&P500 was down 1.73% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.23%.

Cruise operators Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line plunged more than 10% each, while shares in United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines slumped almost as much.

European stocks had their worst day in 17 months.

Here’s a roundup of tonight’s Covid-19 news, as the world reacts to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

• Countries across the globe, including the US and Canada have introduced travel restrictions on people coming from countries in southern Africa. Governments in the Middle East and North Africa are also among those to introduce curbs.
• US president Joe Biden said the Omicron variant made it “clearer than ever” that global vaccinations are needed to end the pandemic.
• The Netherlands will be “effectively closed from 5pm to 5am” according to remarks by caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte, announcing new Covid restrictions from Sunday.
• Dozens of people are likely to have tested positive for the virus within the 600 passengers who landed at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands from South Africa on Friday.
• Novavax, the US company that is among those to have produced a Covid vaccine, said it is working on a version to target the new variant. Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson have also said they were checking the effectiveness of their vaccines.
• The European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has classified Omicron, B.1.1.529, a “variant of concern”, warning the risk is “high to very high”.
• Brazil has reported 315 more Covid deaths and 12,392 new cases, as it joined countries announcing restrictions on travel from southern Africa.
• Delta Airlines has said it does not plan any changes to its flights between South Africa or the US, after the White House announced travel curbs.
• The World Trade Organization has delayed its ministers’ meeting indefinitely. It was due to take place next week, in person, but has been suspended because of difficulties for the South African delegation.

Brazil has become another country to announce it will ban arrivals from six countries in southern Africa because of the Omicron variant.

Reuters reports that restrictions will apply to people arriving from South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Earlier on Friday it recorded another 315 deaths.

Dutch health authorities have said that it is likely dozens of people among the 600 passengers that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Friday will test positive for Covid-19.

Two flights landed from South Africa, and travellers have been isolated at the airport due to concerns about the newly detected Omicron variant.

Initial test results have estimated there is 85 positive cases among passengers who arrived on the KLM services.

Further tests will take place to determine whether those who are positive have the Omicron variant. All air travel was banned on Friday, but some flights already underway are exempt.

Delta Airlines has said it won’t plan any changes to its flights between South Africa or the US, after the White House announced travel curbs.

The carrier runs a service three-times a week between Johannesburg and Atlanta, and the airline said it had “no planned adjustments to service at this time”.

Brazil has reported 315 more Covid deaths and 12,392 new cases according to data released by its health ministry.

A total of 613,957 people have died from the virus in the country, with more than 22m confirmed cases.

Its health regulator Anvisa has recommended some travel restrictions should be in place in response to the new Covid-19 variant. However president Jair Bolsonaro was noncommittal on Friday.

“Brazil can’t handle another lockdown. There’s no use getting terrified,” he said after a military event in Rio de Janeiro according to Reuters. “I’m going to take rational measures.”

The World Trade Organization has delayed its first ministerial meeting in four years due to the deteriorating health situation, Reuters has reported.

Ministers from WTO members were due to gather next week, in a gathering that had seen pressure on it to waive intellectual property rights on vaccines.

The Geneva-based trade body said an in-person meeting would be difficult as delegations from South Africa would be limited to a mostly virtual presence.

The European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has classified the newly-named Omicron variant, B.1.1.529, a “variant of concern”.

It is added to the group that already includes the Beta (formerly South African), Gamma (formerly Brazilian) and Delta (formerly Indian) variants.

The ECDC decision follows that of the World Health Organization earlier on Friday. (See 18:07)

A report published by the body says: “[It] is the most divergent variant that has been detected in significant numbers during the pandemic so far, which raises concerns that it may be associated with increased transmissibility, significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness and increased risk for reinfections.”

It says that the overall risk is “high to very high” and advocates a “precautionary approach” due the uncertainties around it.

The threat assessment adds that the possibility of further introduction and spread in the EU is “high”, with the impact alongside a resurgent Delta variant could be “very high”.

In response, the ECDC recommends further testing, avoiding travel to affected areas and contact tracing of cases. It encourages vaccination programmes to continue to target those who have not yet been jabbed and consider a booster dose for people aged 40 and over.

Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, said: “We must be proactive and implement measures as a precaution to buy time until we gain more knowledge.”

A selection of countries in north Africa and the Middle East have joined those imposing restrictions on arrivals from southern Africa.

Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco have introduced varying bans on travellers from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini according to AFP.

Egypt has suspended direct flights to and from South Africa.

Iran said it will ban foreign travellers from six countries, including South Africa. Iranians will be admitted after testing negative twice for Covid, state broadcaster IRIB reported. On Friday it reported 86 deaths.

Novavax, the US company that is among those to have produced a Covid vaccine, said it is working on a version of its jab to target the Omicron variant detected in southern Africa.

The company said it could be ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks, according to Reuters.

Its shot contains a version of the virus’ spike protein that can’t cause the disease but triggers the immune system.

Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson have also said they were checking the effectiveness of their inoculations against the new strain.

German officials say the new coronavirus variant hasn’t yet been found in the country, according to a government report.

Reuters says an interior ministry document says it is likely to have spread to more countries.