Health News at Your Fingertips

Craig Revel Horwood said he “hated it” when he could not appear on Strictly Come Dancing last weekend because of a positive Covid test.

The judge was absent from the panel for musical week on November 20 and 21, when he was replaced by Cynthia Erivo.

Erivo was back on the panel again the following weekend, when she filled in for Motsi Mabuse, who was unable to travel back to the UK after close contact with someone with a positive test.

Revel Horwood told Hello! magazine: “My work ethic is, unless you’re dead you go on stage and Dr Footlights takes care of the rest.

“Even when I had my hip replaced, I was back at work on the Saturday. So I just hated it when they said I couldn’t go in.”

The Dutch public health authority confirmed Sunday that 13 people who arrived in the Netherlands on flights from South Africa on Friday have so far tested positive for the new omicron coronavirus variant, AP reports.

The 61 people who tested positive for the virus on Friday after arriving on the last two flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport before a flight ban was put in place were immediately put into isolation while sequencing was carried out to establish if they had the new variant.

The public health institute said in a statement that testing was continuing on the samples.

Most of the 61 people who tested positive were put into isolation at a hotel near the airport, while a small number were allowed to sit out their quarantine at home under strict conditions.

“The Omicron variant has so far been identified in 13 of the positive tests. The investigation has not yet been completed. The new variant may be found in more test samples,” the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in a statement.

In the UK the deputy chair of the The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI ), said under-40s “should expect” to get the booster earlier than previously thought because of the Omicron variant.

When asked if those aged 18-39 should brace for an extension to the booster programme on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, Professor Anthony Harnden said: “I think there’s a very good, strong argument for raising the antibody level in the whole of the community.

“So, accelerating the booster programme, both by extending the age range and by reducing the interval between the second dose and the booster dose, will be an acceptable strategy.”

When pushed on whether people aged 18 and over would be invited to get the booster sooner, he added: “Those adults 18 plus will have an offer of a booster earlier than we had previously envisaged.”

The exemption of the common travel area from new Covid-19 restrictions against the Omicron variant has been welcomed by the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister.

Simon Coveney clarified that travellers from Ireland to the UK will not be affected by the measures against the new Covid-19 variant.

On Saturday the Irish Department of Health announced its own measures to mitigate against Omicron, including mandatory home quarantine regardless of vaccine status.

Returning Irish residents will be required to undergo strict home quarantine regardless of vaccine/recovery/test status, and undergo PCR testing during quarantine.

The government is “nowhere near” having to reimpose mandatory social distancing and home working to mitigate the threat from the Omicron Covid variant, Sajid Javid has said, adding that he hoped other new measures could be removed within weeks.

Beginning a morning of media interviews after Boris Johnson announced rules to combat the variant, including compulsory masks on public transport and in shops, the health secretary called the plans “proportionate and balanced”.

The chief medical officer of Moderna has said while Omicron is a “dangerous-looking” variant, he is “optimistic” about fighting it.

Dr Paul Burton said: “I think we have cause to be hopeful, we’ve learnt a lot about this virus in general.

“You know, we’ve learned so much about how to deal with Covid as well, through simple measures, and obviously through vaccines, but until we see how this virus now behaves in populations of older people, people with other comorbidities. We really want to get a handle on exactly how severe the disease could be, I think.”

He added: “This is a dangerous-looking virus, but I think we have many tools in our armamentarium now to get to fight it, so I’m optimistic.”

Dr Burton said researchers will have a better idea about the effectiveness of the current vaccines against Omicron in the “next couple of weeks”, but if a new vaccine is required that could be produced on a large scale by early 2022.

The doctor who discovered the Omicron variant said the UK was “panicking unnecessarily” and that the symptoms are “extremely mild”.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told The Andrew Marr Show she first encountered the variant in a man in his early 30s who presented with tiredness and a mild headache, but none of the usual coronavirus symptoms.

She said: “What we are seeing clinically in south Africa, and remember I’m at the epicentre – that’s where I’m practising – it’s extremely mild. For us, that’s mild cases.”

When asked if the UK was “panicking unnecessarily”, she said: “I think you already have it there in your country and you’re not knowing it, and I would say, yes, at this stage I would say definitely.

“Two weeks from now maybe we will say something different.”

The UK shadow foreign secretary said Labour supports measures on mask wearing but that her party “desperately” wants to see the Government “tighten up” travel restrictions.

Speaking to Trevor Phillips On Sunday on Sky News, Lisa Nandy said her party will consider the plans in Parliament on Monday but there are “a number of outstanding holes in our defences” that need to be addressed.

Asked if she accepts the Government’s strategy laid out on Saturday, she said: “There is a balance to be struck, I think the Health Secretary is right about that.

“We don’t think the Government has been getting the balance right up to now. That’s why we support the measures to bring in greater use of masks, mandatory masks in some settings, and we’ll be asking questions about whether the scientific basis for that suggests that that needs to go further.

“We desperately want to see them tighten up the travel restrictions. There is a real problem when for 18 months the Government has been warned that there are holes in those defences and still hasn’t taken action to plug what you rightly suggested are just practical measures that could be dealt with in order to stop the new variant spreading around the country.”

The UK health secretary has said he expects the public to comply with the new rules around mask wearing.

Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky, Sajid Javid said that following the news of a new variant: “I do think people will take this more seriously.”

He added that people should make plans for Christmas “as normal” amid questions about another lockdown.

Javid said: “I think it’s fair to say that the nature of this pandemic is it would be irresponsible to make guarantees.

“As for Christmas, I think people should continue with their plans as normal for Christmas, I think it’s going to be a great Christmas.”