Omicron likely to infect half of Europe in 2 months; US logs 11 lakh daily cases: Top 9 global COVID updates

The nation saw the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients also hit an all-time high, having doubled in three weeks. Meanwhile, Europe has eased restrictions amid the ongoing Omicron surge.

A special envoy on the World Health Organization’s coronavirus team said on Monday that the pandemic’s end is in sight, but life will still be ‘difficult’ until at least the spring. Meanwhile, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Monday said that his company is aiming to have a vaccine that targets the Omicron variant as well as other COVID-19 variants ready in March.

Here are the top 9 COVID-19 updates around the globe:

1. Omicron likely to infect half of Europe in 2 months

More than half of people in Europe are on track to contract the omicron coronavirus variant in the next two months if infections continue at current rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

“At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that more than 50% of the population in the region will be infected with omicron in the next six to eight weeks,” Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO’s European office, told a press conference.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries and territories including several in Central Asia. Kluge noted that 50 of them had confirmed cases of the omicron variant. According to the WHO, 26 of those countries reported that over 1% of their populations were “catching COVID each week” as of January 10. Kluge stressed that “approved vaccines do continue to provide good protection against severe disease and death, including for omicron.”

2. US reports at least 1.1 million COVID cases in a day, shattering global record

The United States reported at least 1.13 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total of any country in the world as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The previous record was 1.03 million cases on January 3. A large number of cases are reported each Monday due to many states not reporting over the weekend. The seven-day average for new cases has tripled in two weeks to over 7,00,000 new infections a day.

The record in new cases came the same day as the nation saw the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients also hit an all-time high, having doubled in three weeks, according to a Reuters tally.

There were more than 1,35,500 people hospitalised with COVID, surpassing the record of 1,32,051 set in January last year.

3. Europe eases restrictions as less lethal Omicron surges

European governments are relaxing COVID-19 rules to keep hospitals, schools and emergency services going as the much more contagious but less lethal Omicron variant changes their approach to the pandemic, reported Reuters. Even though a record surge in infections has yet to peak in Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the time was right to start evaluating the disease’s evolution “with different parameters”. read more

The mass return of children to school after the Christmas holidays is evidence that few wish to see a return to the online-only learning that marked some of the early waves of infection.

4. COVID patient numbers in hospitals continue to rise in England and Scotland

The number of COVID patients in hospitals in England and Scotland has continued to increase, according to newly reported figures, as the UK reported 1,42,224 COVID cases on Monday – the first rise in six days, reported The Guardian.

According to the latest figures, there were 17,120 COVID patients in the hospital in England and 1,432 in Scotland, up from 14,210 and 1,033 respectively on the previous Monday. Figures for Wales and Northern Ireland were not available. The latest daily case figures, which reflect infections picked up by testing, bring the UK total for the past seven days to 12,01,563, up just 1 per cent compared with the total for the week before. The daily figure fell after 4 January when 218,724 cases were reported – a figure that included a backlog of reporting for Northern Ireland and Wales – to 1,41,472 on Sunday before rising to 142,224 on Monday.

The figure also does not include reinfections for all the countries in the UK, and reflects cases by date reported rather than by specimen date. A further 77 deaths in the UK within 28 days of a positive COVID test were reported on Monday.

5. WHO says end of pandemic is ‘in sight, but we’re not there’

The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 said Monday there’s an “end in sight” to the pandemic – but warned of a “difficult” three months ahead with the spread of the Omicron variant. “I’m afraid we are moving through the marathon but there’s no actual way to say that we’re at the end – we can see the end in sight, but we’re not there. And there’s going to be some bumps before we get there,” Dr David Nabarro told Sky News. Nabarro said that new variants could play a role in upcoming waves, putting more strain on already overwhelmed health systems.

6. US CDC warns against travel to Canada amid rising COVID numbers

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned against travel to Canada as COVID-19 cases surge across the country and rampant infections threaten to once again overwhelm fragile healthcare systems. The CDC on Monday elevated its travel recommendation to “level four: very high” for Canada, telling Americans they should avoid travel to its northern neighbour. The CDC currently lists about 80 destinations worldwide at level four.

Canada has long been a popular destination for Americans but for most of the pandemic, the border between the two countries was closed to all non-essential travel. In November, fully vaccinated travellers were once again permitted to move freely to Canada and Mexico, ending the unprecedented closure.

7. EU drug regulator could issue decision on Pfizer COVID pill ‘within weeks’

The EU’s drug regulator said Monday it could decide within weeks whether to approve Pfizer’s COVID pill after the US pharma giant formally applied for authorisation. In December the European Medicines Agency (EMA) cleared individual states to decide whether to make early emergency use of the drug known as Paxlovid. But the Amsterdam-based watchdog said it had now started evaluating Pfizer’s bid for full authorisation across the 27-nation bloc.

“EMA will assess the benefits and risks of Paxlovid under a reduced timeline and could issue an opinion within weeks,” the agency said in a statement. The timing depended on whether Pfizer’s data was “sufficiently robust”, it added.

8. T-cells from common colds may offer protection against COVID-19, finds UK study

People with higher levels of T cells from common cold coronaviruses are less likely to become infected with COVID-19, offering a possible blueprint for a second-generation of vaccines against future variants, a UK research team made up of an Indian-origin scientist said on Monday.

The study, published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’ and led by Imperial College London researchers, claims to provide the first evidence of a protective role for T cells. While previous studies have shown that T cells induced by other coronaviruses can recognise SARS-CoV-2, the strain which causes COVID-19, the new study examines how the presence of these T cells at the time of SARS-CoV-2 exposure influences infection.

9. Pfizer, Moderna working on Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer has already started working on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine specifically targeting the new Omicron variant in case the current inoculation is not effective against the latest strain, the US drugmaker’s CEO Albert Bourla said Monday. Bourla told that his company on Friday began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and has reignited fears of a global wave of COVID-19 infections.

Meanwhile, Moderna is also working on a booster shot that will target the omicron variant of COVID for this fall as nations around the world prepare to distribute annual vaccinations against the virus. “We are discussing with public health leaders around the world to decide what we think is the best strategy for the potential booster for the fall of 2022. We believe it will contain omicron,” CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. Bancel said the omicron-specific booster will enter clinical trials soon, and Moderna is discussing whether the shot needs to contain any other components to fight the virus. “We need to be careful to try to stay ahead of a virus and not behind the virus,” he said.