(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to ease a shortage of COVID-19 tests as the Omicron variant threatened to overwhelm hospitals and stifle travel plans as it spreads across the country this holiday week.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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AMERICAS
* Rising cases, along with bad weather, caused airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights on Monday, and the spread of the Omicron variant prompted the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert to suggest the government consider mandating vaccines for domestic flights.
* U.S. health authorities shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
* Confirmed cases in Argentina almost doubled on Monday from Friday to 20,263 new infections, the highest daily tally in almost 6 months.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter against COVID-19, he said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australia recorded another record surge in infections as an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupted reopening of the economy, while state leaders argued over domestic border controls.
* Indonesian health authorities were conducting contact tracing on Tuesday after detecting the Southeast Asian country’s first case of the Omicron variant in the community.
EUROPE
* Spain’s infection rate exceeded 1,000 cases per 100,000 people for the first time on Monday, although hospitals were under much less strain than in previous waves of the pandemic.
* Greece announced further restrictions effective from Jan. 3-16 to contain a further upsurge in COVID-19 infections including the Omicron variant, targeting mainly night-time entertainment venues.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Daily new cases in Turkey surged 30% on Monday to 26,099, the highest percentage rise this year, as the health minister warned about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
* Iran has banned the entry of travellers from Britain, France, Denmark and Norway for 15 days.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* India gave emergency use authorisation for Merck’s COVID-19 pill molnupiravir, and Serum Institute of India’s Covovax and Biological E’s Corbevax coronavirus vaccines.
* China’s Kintor faced a temporary setback as interim analysis for a late-stage trial for its potential COVID-19 pill did not yield sufficient data due to the lack of hospitalised cases.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday, cruising in the slipstream of another record-setting day on Wall Street, while the safe-haven yen lost ground as traders stayed in riskier assets. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Japan’s factory output jumped at the fastest pace on record in November, as easing global supply chain bottlenecks helped car production leap out of its recent slump, lifting prospects for a strong fourth-quarter economic rebound.
(Compiled by Devika Syamnath and Shinjini Ganguli; Edited by Maju Samuel and Shounak Dasgupta)
