ECDC follows WHO in threat assessment of new variant; countries bar foreign nationals from several southern African nations; UK sees most new infections for a month
That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, for today. Please follow our new Covid blog here.
It’s been a busy past 24 hours on the Covid front with nations racing to close borders and reimpose restrictions after a new Covid variant was detected last week.
In case you’re still struggling to get your head around the new B.1.1.529 “omicron” variant here’s a helpful explainer on what it all means.
India saw a single-day rise of 8,318 new Covid infections with active cases declining to 1,07,019 - the lowest in 541 days, according to Union Health Ministry data updated today.
The country also recorded 465 daily fatalities.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 50 continuous days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 153 consecutive days now, the Times of India reports.
Active cases now comprise 0.311% of total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.34%, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.
The government of Canada says it will be implementing enhanced border measures to “to protect the health and safety of Canadians” in response to the new Omicron variant.
Canada is banning foreign travellers to the country from seven African countries. Foreign nationals who have travelled in any of these countries within the previous 14 days will not be permitted entry into Canada.
“As a precautionary measure, until January 31, 2022, the Government of Canada is implementing enhanced border measures for all travellers who have been in the Southern Africa region — including South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia— within the last 14 days before arriving in Canada,” a recently published press release reads.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents and people with status under the Indian Act, regardless of their vaccination status or having had a previous history of testing positive for Covid-19, who have been in these countries in the previous 14 days will be subject to enhanced testing, screening, and quarantine measures.
Travellers will be required to obtain, within 72 hours of departure, a valid negative Covid test and upon arrival will subject to immediate testing. All travellers will also be required to complete a test on day 8 after arrival and quarantine for 14 days.
There will be “increased scrutiny” of quarantine plans for travellers from these countries and “rigorous monitoring” to ensure travellers are complying with quarantine measures, the statement added.
Here’s a quick recap of all the key developments you may have missed from the past few hours:
The latest Covid figures from Germany are in, with an expected rise in both cases and deaths.
The European nation reported an additional 67,125 Covid cases and 303 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
This takes the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 5,717,295 and total reported deaths to 100,779.
South Korea’s new Covid cases rose above 4,000 with the numbers of deaths and critically ill patients hitting fresh record highs on Saturday, Yonhap news agency reports.
The country reported 4,068 new Covid-19 cases, including 4,045 local infections, raising the total caseload to 436,968, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The number was up 167 from 3,901 on Friday but down from 4,115 on Wednesday, which was the highest since the first case was reported in the country in January 2020.
Critically ill patients hit an all-time high of 634, up 17 from the previous day.
The country added 52 more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 3,492. The fatality rate stood at 0.8%.
The government said it will announce toughened antivirus measures to contain the spread of the virus on Monday.
No cases of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant detected in South Africa have been identified in the United States to date, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
“We expect Omicron to be identified quickly, if it emerges in the US,” CDC said in a statement, Reuters reports.
Shanghai today announced the latest three people to be identified with Covid were all infected by Delta mutant strains in the same transmission chain.
Authorities believe the flare-up was caused by exposure to the infected environment by imported cases in other province.
The outbreak led to the decision to cancel hundreds of flights on Friday while some schools were shuttered and tour groups suspended as China continues its strict zero-Covid policy.
India will resume scheduled international flights from 15 December with a limited service to 14 nations, the Civil Aviation Ministry said.
“Resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services, to and from India, has been examined in consultation with Ministry of Home Affairs, External Affairs and Health, and it has been decided... may be resumed from December 15,” the ministry said on Friday evening.
The Aviation Ministry said 14 countries designated by the Health Ministry as ‘at risk’, and with whom there is an existing ‘air bubble’ agreement, would be allowed to resume 75% of pre-Covid operations (or a minimum of seven flights per week).
These 14 countries are: the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Brazil, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand. The list also includes South Africa, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong - countries that have confirmed cases of the new B.1.1.529 variant of the coronavirus.
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) November 26, 2021
Here is a quick visual refresh of where Europe stands in its fight against the coronavirus.
This updated map indicates incidence rates across the continent.
News just in from a Covid press conference today.
Australia confirmed it will close its borders to anyone who has been in southern Africa, and is not an Australian citizen, in response to the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant.
Australian citizens and residents and their dependents arriving from these countries will need to go into immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days, health minister Greg Hunt announced.
Anyone who has already arrived in Australia and who has been in any of the nine listed southern African countries within the past 14 days must immediately isolate themselves and be tested for Covid-19 and follow jurisdictional quarantine requirements
Australia will also suspend all flights from nine southern African countries for a period of 14 days as a matter of precaution.
The countries concerned are: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique
Brazil will shut its borders to travellers arriving from six southern African countries, the chief of staff to president Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday, the latest in a slew of major nations to announce restrictions meant to combat the newly identified Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“Brazil will close air borders to six African countries due to the new variant of the coronavirus,” Chief of Staff Ciro Nogueira wrote in a Twitter post late Friday evening.
“We are going to protect Brazilians in this new phase of the pandemic in that country. Ordinance will be published tomorrow and should take effect from Monday.”
The restrictions will affect travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Swatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, he added.
The Australian government is set to announce new travel restrictions later on Saturday, the country’s Channel 7 broadcaster reported, as the new Covid-19 variant raises concerns about a new wave of the pandemic.
“7NEWS understands the federal government will today announce changes to travel - in response to new variant,” it said on Twitter on Saturday, without citing sources.
“Anyone who has been in South Africa in the last 14 days will likely face quarantine or isolation.”
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, will be holding a press conference at 1pm AEDT.
Meanwhile, the federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has called for Australia to close the border to southern African countries.
“The Omicron outbreak is a major concern that should be of concern to all Australians. We know the impact that Delta had when it came here. And we can’t afford to be complacent,” he said.
“I make this point, Scott Morrison always waits until a problem becomes a crisis. And then he waits until a crisis becomes a political issue before he acts. He must act today.”
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.