(Bloomberg) — Two years after reports of a mysterious pneumonia first emerged in Wuhan, the pandemic shows no signs of abating, with the omicron variant pushing worldwide Covid-19 cases above 1 million for a second straight day. The Netherlands will require travelers arriving from the U.S. to self-quarantine for up to ten days. Rapid tests that are widely used to detect infections may miss some omicron cases, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Covid hospitalizations are spiking from New South Wales to New York state, pressuring health systems. Overall, however, omicron appears to be triggering a lower rate of hospitalizations. In China’s Xi’an, an outbreak eased after residents were asked to stay indoors and driving was banned.
Virus Tracker: Cases top 282 million; deaths pass 5.4 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 9 billion shots given, inaction sent a deadly Covid variant around the worldOmicron leaves Biden struggling for message as data roll in Flight attendants scorn CDC guidelines matching airlines’ plea What Covid therapies exist, and what omicron changes. Netherlands to Quarantine U.S. Travelers (5:10 p.m. HK) The Netherlands will require travelers from the U.S. to self-quarantine for up to ten days upon arrival starting Dec. 30, according to an updated travel advisory that now classifies the country as a “very high risk area.” Travelers will still have to provide a negative test. Home carrier KLM, which offers about 50 weekly flights to the U.S., told Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad that it’s “too early” to gauge the impact on bookings. Several U.S. carriers including Delta, United, and American Airlines also operate frequent flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
More than 1.2 billion Chinese people, or about 86% of the country’s population, were fully vaccinated as of Dec. 28, an official at the National Health Commission said at a briefing. Some 465 million doses were administered to youngsters aged 3 to 17.
South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party and the government share a view that extending strengthened social distancing rules would be needed, a ruling party spokesperson said. It will take time for indicators, such as the intensive-care beds utilization rate and critical cases, to improve. South Korea reimposed tighter virus curbs, including cutting business hours of restaurants, movie theaters and coffee shops, on Dec. 18. The government will decide on Friday whether to extend the rules, which are set to end on Jan. 2.
Vietnam plans to initially limit the resumption of regular international flights to routes between the Southeast Asian country and Japan and the U.S. in early January, Tien Phong newspaper reported, citing the civil aviation authority. Earlier this month, the government said it would resume some international flights beginning Jan. 1 under a pilot program. The aviation authority is in discussions with counterparts in other countries about reopening Vietnam further by establishing quick Covid tests at foreign airports, the newspaper reported.
Rapid tests that are being widely used to detect Covid-19 infections in minutes may miss some cases caused by the omicron variant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Early laboratory data suggest antigen tests do detect infections caused by omicron but they may have a reduced sensitivity, the agency said. The results come from an examination of the tests by the National Institutes of Health that used live virus samples, the best way to evaluate their true performance. Previous work showed the antigen tests were just as accurate when finding omicron as earlier strains, though the researchers used heat-inactivated samples that yield less precise results.
Cases in the western Chinese city of Xi’an eased after hitting a record high a day earlier. Xi’an reported 151 infections on Wednesday, down from 175 on Tuesday. The outbreak spread from a few dozen cases in early December to roughly 150 a day after the city was locked down last Thursday, the most dramatic curb China has enacted to stymie Covid since closing off Wuhan and the broader Hubei province in January 2020..
Hospitalizations are spiking from New South Wales to New York state, but the larger picture shows the omicron variant appears to be triggering less severe reactions than earlier outbreaks.
Hospitalization due to coronavirus in Australia’s most-populous state hit the highest level since mid-October. New South Wales on Wednesday recorded 11,201 new Covid cases, up 87% from the previous day’s figure. A total of 625 people in the state, which includes Sydney, are in the hospital, including 61 in intensive-care units.
In New York state, Covid hospitalizations are accelerating at a rate that hasn’t been seen since the early days of the pandemic. On Tuesday the state said hospitalizations rose by 647 to 6,173, marking the largest daily increase since early April 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
But the total number of New Yorkers hospitalized with the virus remains far below last year’s peak of almost 19,000. And overall, hospitalization rates across the U.S. are lower than earlier waves.