Coronavirus - 27th November 2021

Key developments from the past few hours:

• The US and Canada introduced new travel restrictions in response to the Omicron variant.
  
  
• EU members also agreed to restrict travel from seven African countries.
  
  
• The first European case of B.1.1.529 variant has been identified in Belgium.
  
  
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said no cases of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant detected in South Africa have so far been identified in the United States to date.
  
  
• New York governor Kathy Hochul issued a Covid-19 “disaster emergency” declaration on Friday, citing increasing rates of infections and hospitalisations. 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 UK reported a further 50,091 Covid cases and 160 deaths.
  
  
• India reported its lowest daily Covid case rise in 541 days, according to Union Health Ministry data updated today. The single-day rise of 8,318 new Covid infections and 465 deaths saw active cases decline to 1,07,019 - the lowest seen since March 2020.
  
  
• South Korea’s Covid deaths hit record high with new curbs expected. The country reported 4,068 new Covid-19 cases and 52 new deatgs. Critically ill patients hit an all-time high of 634, up 17 from the previous day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
  
  
• India will resume scheduled international flights from 15 December with a limited service to 14 nations, the Civil Aviation Ministry said.
  
  
• Australia confirmed it will close its borders to anyone who has been in southern Africa, and is not an Australian citizen. Australian citizens, residents and their dependents arriving from these countries will need to go into immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days.
  
  
• Brazil will shut its borders to travellers arriving from six southern African countries, chief of staff to president Jair Bolsonaro said.
  
  
• Germany reports an additional 67,125 Covid cases and 303 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
  
  
• Germany’s top health officials have raised the prospect of a national lockdown amid rapidly rising coronavirus cases and a dramatic increase in the number of patients in intensive care.
  
  
• The Netherlands will be “effectively closed from 5pm to 5am” according to remarks by caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte, announcing new Covid restrictions from Sunday.
  
  
• Dozens of people are likely to have tested positive for the virus within the 600 passengers who landed at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands from South Africa on Friday.
  
  
• The European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has classified Omicron, B.1.1.529, a “variant of concern”, warning the risk is “high to very high”.
  
  
• Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco have introduced varying bans on travellers from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini according to AFP. Egypt has suspended direct flights to and from South Africa. Iran said it will ban foreign travellers from six countries, including South Africa.
  
  
• Canada introduced new border measures and ‘rigorous monitoring’, banning foreign travellers from seven African countries.
  
  
• 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.
  

Sixty-one travellers from South Africa in Netherlands test positive for Covid

This new variant is a wake-up call.  The pandemic is not over. We need to urgently bolster our defences to keep the virus at bay.

A summary of today's developments so far:

• The first suspected case of the Omicron Covid variant in the Czech Republic is under investigation. Prime minister Andrej Babiš said the suspected infection was a woman who stayed in Namibia, and then flew home via South Africa and Dubai.
  
• In Germany, a minister in the state of Hesse said the Omicron variant, known officially as B.1.1.529, had probably arrived in a traveller returning from South Africa. The country’s top health officials have raised the prospect of a national lockdown amid rapidly rising cases and hospitalisations.
  
• Dozens of people who arrived in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday tested positive for Covid. Dutch authorities are scrambling to see if 61 passengers from South Africa who tested positive for Covid-19 have the new B.1.1.529 variant.
  
• There have been 77 fully confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in South Africa, four cases in Botswana and one in Hong Kong. Cases have also been reported in Israel and Belgium, although it is possible the variant has spread further.
  
• The Omicron variant is unlikely to “reboot” the pandemic in a population that has been widely vaccinated, according to Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group.
  
• South Africa has complained it is being “punished” for detecting the Omicron variant, as countries around the world rushed to impose travel bans from southern African countries.
  
• Travel bans from certain African countries have been introduced by the UK, US, EU, Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman and Thailand, among others.
  
• Concerns over the variant triggered a sharp drop in global stock markets and oil prices
  
• BioNTech, the company that developed the Pfizer jab, has said it could manufacture and distribute an updated version of its vaccine within 100 days if the new Covid variant is found to evade existing immunity.
  

Two cases of Omicron variant detected in UK

Two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in the UK, the health secretary has said.
Sajid Javid said the two individuals are now self-isolating and the cases are connected.
He added there would be targeted testing in the areas where the cases were found - in Chelmsford and in Nottingham.

Four more countries are being added to the UK’s travel ‘red list’ from 4am on Sunday:

We have moved rapidly and the individuals are self-isolating while contact tracing is ongoing.
We will do all we can to protect the UK public against this emerging threat and that is why we are surging testing capacity to the impacted communities and introducing travel restrictions on a further four countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola. We will not hesitate to take further action if required.
This is a stark reminder that we are not yet out of this pandemic.
Getting the vaccine has never been more important - please come forward for your first jab if you haven’t already and if eligible, book your booster as soon as possible.

'Would not be surprised' if Omicron already in US, Fauci says

You know, I would not be surprised if it is.
We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re already having travel-related cases that they’ve noted in Israel and Belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go, essentially all over.
Its ability to infect people who have recovered from infection and even people who have been vaccinated makes us say this is something you have to pay really close attention to and be prepared for something that’s serious.
It may not turn out that way, but you really want to be ahead of it.

We’ve always been really clear that we will do whatever is necessary to protect the progress that we’ve made as a country.
We’ve come a long way, especially since the summer, and we keep all of this under review and if we need to take further action, we will.

If anyone is sitting at home, thinking what can I do – get vaccinated.

PM: We need targeted action now

PCR tests for travellers now required

Rules on masks in shops and public transport to be tightened

All Omicron case contacts must self-isolate

Face masks likely to be mandatory again in shops and on transport

Vital people get their booster jabs, Johnson says

The key points of what's been announced

• All travellers to the UK will have to take a PCR test by the end of day 2 of their arrival; travellers must self-isolate until they receive a negative test result
  
• All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status. They will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace
  
• Face coverings will become compulsory on public transport and in shops - not including hospitality
  
• The JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) will consider giving boosters to a wider age group, as well as reducing the gap between the second dose and booster.
  

Analysis: Current jabs should still provide some protection

Michelle Roberts - Health editor, BBC News online
We've just heard the government plans to speed up the booster jab campaign.
Experts are also being asked to evaluate whether more people could be invited for a booster jab to top up their immunity against coronavirus, given the arrival of the new Omicron variant.
Although our current vaccines are not a perfect match for this highly mutated new type of Covid, they should still provide some protection.
Vaccines are very effective at saving lives by cutting the risk of severe illness against other major Covid variants, including Delta which is still the dominant one circulating in the UK.
In the UK at the moment, booster jabs are being offered to:

• Over-40s
  
• Frontline health and social care workers
  
• Older adults in residential care homes
  
• People aged 16-49 years old with underlying health conditions which put them at greater risk of severe Covid
  
• Adults who share a household with vulnerable people
  

More than 16m boosters or third doses have been given so far.

Analysis: This is not a full Plan B

Nick Eardley - Political correspondent
For the last few months, we’ve got used to restrictions being lifted.
But the level of uncertainty and concern in government is such that we are seeing some being brought back in England.
This isn’t the full Plan B ministers were keeping in reserve.
Face coverings will become mandatory again on transport and in shops – but not in hospitality.
England is not moving to introduce vaccine passports or call for home working, as other parts of the UK have.
But we are seeing new measures designed to limit the spread of the new variant.
People travelling into the UK will again have to take a PCR test and self-isolate until they get a negative test.
And everyone who comes into contact with a positive case of Omicron will have to self-isolate – even if they’ve had both vaccine doses.
The UK government has made clear it didn’t want to introduce these measures. But the new variant has forced its hand.

Analysis: Not full Plan B but government is trying to buy time

Hugh Pym - BBC News Health Editor
Cases of the new variant appearing in the UK were inevitable.
What was not inevitable was the government’s response, moving swiftly to tighten rules for those arriving in the country and for the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport in England.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland face coverings are already mandatory on public transport and in some indoor settings. So why not the full Plan B for England with requirements to work from home and the use of vaccine passports in some settings?
The prime minister’s answer was that more work was needed to determine how rapidly the variant spreads and how effective the vaccines might be – hence the focus on trying to stop cases coming into the UK but holding off on a wider range of domestic restrictions.
In effect the government is trying to buy time with a review in three weeks, relying on the booster programme to increase immunity while data on Omicron is analysed.
It will hope that the worst fears about the spread of the variants are not realised. There is always the risk, though, that the latest set of measures don’t go far enough.

Face coverings to become mandatory from next week in UK

Mask compliance will be harder now - Labour's Burnham

'This is Plan B-lite'

Face coverings to become mandatory from next week in UK

Mask compliance will be harder now - Labour's Burnham

'This is Plan B-lite'

We will be introducing the same measures on international travel as those announced this afternoon by the UK Government and the other devolved governments.

UK records 39,567 new cases

A host of new measures have been introduced in a bid to "slow down" the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant after two cases were detected in the UK.
Hours after Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that two infections were identified in Nottingham and Brentwood, Essex, Boris Johnson gave a press conference alongside the Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty.
Prof Whitty warned that the new variant's "extensive mutations" mean “there is a reasonable chance there is some degree of vaccine escape”, but said he is hopeful that current jabs can still prevent severe disease even if the vaccine does not prevent it spreading as much as would be desirable.
The prime minister said that the current scientific understanding is that the Omicron variant “spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who have been double-vaccinated”.
While the trio warned that cases of the new variant would likely rise, the PM said the extra measures were being brought in in a bid to "slow down the seeding" of the variant.

So, what has been announced today for UK and what does it mean for Christmas?

Travel
Anyone who travels abroad must take a PCR test on day two of their arrival back in the UK and self-isolate until they get a negative result.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Javid announced that Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia will join South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho on the travel red list.
From 4am on Sunday, anyone who arrives into the UK from one of these countries must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days at a cost of £2,285 for one adult. These packages can be booked through the government's website.
The red list rules apply to people of all ages and vaccination status and anyone who breaks the rules faces a fine of up to £10,000.

Self-isolation
Anyone who comes into contact with someone who has tested positive for the Omicron variant must isolate at home for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status.
If you need to quarantine you will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace.

Face coverings
Face coverings on public transport and in shops will return from next week, but will not be mandatory in hospitality venues.

Booster vaccines
The booster vaccine rollout will be stepped up to cover more people and the gap between second and third doses will be shortened.
Prof Whitty said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will now need to decide whether to extend the booster vaccine down to adults age 18, and whether a second dose should be offered to children aged 12-15 who decided with their families to get the first dose of the vaccine.
Currently, adults aged 40 and over, those with underlying health conditions, and frontline health and social care workers are all eligible for a third or booster jab six months after their first.
Children aged between 12 and 15 are currently only being offered one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Do these rules apply to all of the UK?
Health is a devolved matter so any announcements made by Mr Johnson only apply to England.
Mask-wearing is already mandatory indoors and on public transport in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and some form of vaccine passport or negative Covid test is required to get access to certain indoor events in these countries.
The Welsh and Scottish governments have said that their rules will mirror those set out by the prime minister. Northern Ireland is expected to follow suite.

What does this all mean for Christmas?
The new measures will be assessed in three weeks' time when "we should have much greater information about the continuing effectiveness of our vaccines", Mr Johnson said.
However, Sir Patrick warned that the UK may need to "face up" to the possibility of further action if the Omicron variant is very transmissible.
When questioned if it meant that Christmas plans could be curtailed for a second year running, Mr Johnson said he is “absolutely confident that this Christmas will be better than last Christmas”, suggesting he has no current plans to introduce a lockdown.
He said the country is in a “strong position” ahead of the festive period but the “best thing to do” is to keep being jabbed.
Face coverings will not be mandatory in hospitality settings, meaning Christmas parties in pubs and restaurants are able to go ahead as normal.

Italy detects case of new Covid variant

What have we learnt from today's press conference?

• All travellers entering the UK will now have to take a PCR test within two days of entering the country and will have to self-isolate until a negative test is returned.
  
• All those who have been in contact with a person who tests positive for the Omicron variant will have to self-isolate regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated.
  
• Face coverings will once again become compulsory in shops and on public transport in England from next week. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland they are still mandatory on public transport and many indoor areas.
  
• Hospitality will be exempt from the rule change on face coverings.
  
• The JCVI will explore how the booster programme can be extended, including looking at closing the time gap between the second dose and the booster.
  
• Ten countries are now on the UK's travel red list meaning, from Sunday at 04:00 GMT, all arrivals will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. They are South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.