Coronavirus - 28th November 2021

Summary for Sunday, 28th November

At a glance morning recap of developments around the world during the last 24 hours:

• Britain, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday. There was also concern in the Netherlands after 61 people tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on two flights from South Africa on Friday. Further tests were under way to determine if any of them had the Omicron variant.
  
• Boris Johnson said arrivals to the UK have to take a PCR test by the second day of their arrival and self-isolate until they have a negative result after the first two cases of the new variant were reported in Nottingham and Essex. Face coverings will also become compulsory in shops and on public transport in the UK from next week.
  
• US government expert Dr Anthony Fauci said he “would not be surprised” if the Omicron variant was already in the US. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation.
  
• Israel is to ban the entry of visitors from all countries due to the Omicron variant. The country will also reintroduce counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology for contact testing in order to contain the spread of the new strain.
  
• Health officials in New South Wales, Australia, have begun urgent testing after two people who arrived on a flight from southern Africa overnight tested positive to the coronavirus. But the state’s opening up plan remains in place for now. Follow all the developments in Australia at our separate live blog here.
  
• Two people with the new variant entered Germany at Munich airport on 24 November, before South Africa was designated a virus variant area and were now isolating, Bavaria’s health ministry said. Earlier, officials in the western state of Hesse, home to Frankfurt airport, said a suspected case of the Omicron variant had been found in a passenger arriving from South Africa.
  
• A case of the Omicron variant has been detected in Italy. The genome was sequenced at the Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, Virology and Bioemergency Diagnostics of the Sacco Hospital in Milan from a positive sample of a patient coming from Mozambique.
  

Australia toughens up restrictions

Mostafa Rachwani - The Guardian
Australia’s federal health minister said he was meeting the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the chief health officer, and state and territory counterparts to discuss developments around the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Greg Hunt did a swift u-turn on Saturday by shutting the country’s border with South Africa and reinstating mandatory quarantine for arrivals from nine southern African countries as concerns about Omicron mounted. States such as South Australia are already tightening up their borders again after only beginning to emerge from the Delta lockdown in place in much of the country since June and July.
New South Wales, however, is sticking with its reopening plan. State premier Dominic Perrottet said it was “inevitable” that more variants will emerge and enter Australia, and said the state was taking a “precautionary approach” with the changes to international arrivals announced yesterday.
“We need to learn to live alongside the virus and to live alongside the various strains of the virus that will come our way, and the best thing we can do is get vaccinated and get booster shots,” he said.
“Urgent” genomic sequencing is under way after two passengers on a Qatar Airways flight arrived in Sydney on Saturday night. Perrottet confirmed that 29 people arrived in Sydney yesterday, after spending time in southern Africa.

Covid update: Australia confirms first Omicron case
Mostafa Rachwani - The Guardian
Australian states and territories are braced for the spread of Omicron, with authorities conceding on Sunday that positive cases were inevitable.
Both the NSW and Victorian governments have introduced 72-hour isolation requirements for all fully vaccinated international arrivals, regardless of where they have arrived from.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said the new variant may “already be here” and that little is known about it.
“What we do know is that it’s going to be hard to ascertain just how many people are here who have been in those African nations.”
Full story here.

Mexico reports a further 245 Covid-related deaths
Mexico recorded 245 coronavirus deaths on Saturday and an additional 2,956 confirmed cases, according to health ministry data, bringing the overall death toll to 293,859 and the number of cases to 3,882,792.

Czech Republic confirms Omicron case

A hospital in the northern Czech city of Liberec has confirmed a case of the Omicron strain in a female patient, a spokesman told Czech Television on Saturday.
Czech prime minister Andrej Babis said earlier Saturday that the woman had been in Namibia and flew back to the Czech Republic via South Africa and Dubai. Babis said the woman was vaccinated and had mild symptoms of the disease.
“Given where the patient came from and all the circumstances, we can confirm the strain has been confirmed,” the spokesman added.
The Czech Republic is currently grappling with a spike in Covid-19 infections making it one of the worst-hit countries in the world in terms of infections per capita.

Israel bans all foreigners from midnight on Sunday

Israel is banning the entry of all foreigners into the country, making it the first country to shut its borders completely in response to the Omicron variant. It also said it would use counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology in order to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.
Naftali Bennett, the prime minister, said in a statement that the ban, pending government approval, would last 14 days.
Officials hope that within that period there will be more information on how effective COVID-19 vaccines are against Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa and has been dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization.
“Our working hypotheses are that the variant is already in nearly every country,” interior minister Ayelet Shaked told N12’s “Meet the Press,” “and that the vaccine is effective, although we don’t yet know to what degree.”
Israelis entering the country, including those who are vaccinated, will be required to quarantine, Bennett said. The ban will come into effect at midnight between Sunday and Monday. A travel ban on foreigners coming from most African states was imposed on Friday.

Germany reports a further 44,401 cases
Germany has reported another 44,401 Covid cases, tasking its total to 5,761,696. There were also another 104 deaths from Covid in the past 24 hours, meaning that 100,883 people have died from the disease.
The health ministry in the German state of Bavaria announced on Saturday two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant.
The two people entered Germany at Munich airport on 24 November, before Germany designated South Africa as a virus-variant area, and were now isolating, said the ministry, indicating without stating explicitly that the people had travelled from South Africa.

China could face 'colossal' outbreak if restrictions eased

China could face more than 630,000 Covid-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies by lifting travel curbs, according to a study by Peking University mathematicians, Reuters reports.
In the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the mathematicians said China could not afford to lift travel restrictions without more efficient vaccinations or specific treatments.
Using data for August from the United States, Britain, Spain, France and Israel, the mathematicians assessed the potential results if China adopted the same pandemic control tactics as those countries.
China’s daily new cases would reach at least 637,155 if it adopted the United States’ pandemic strategy, the report said.
And daily cases would hit 275,793 if China took the same approach as Britain and 454,198 if it imitated France, it said.
“The estimates revealed the real possibility of a colossal outbreak which would almost certainly induce an unaffordable burden on the medical system,” the report said.
“Our findings have raised a clear warning that, for the time being, we are not ready to embrace ‘open-up’ strategies resting solely on the hypothesis of herd immunity induced by vaccination advocated by certain western countries.”

The Australian Red Cross has sent a large amount of PPE to Papua New Guinea
- to be distributed to remote hard-to-reach communities as the nation continues to battle coronavirus.
The critical delivery includes:

• 636,000 surgical masks
  
• 65,000 examination gloves
  
• 360 infrared thermometers
  
• 24,000 bottles of hand-sanitizer
  

PNG has officially confirmed almost 35,000 coronavirus cases and 542 deaths but it is believed many more cases and deaths are going unreported in the nation of nine million where vaccination hesitancy is reported to be high.

Switzerland widens Quarantine requirements to travellers from a further five countries
As curbs spread around Europe along with the new variant, Switzerland has widened quarantine requirements to travellers arriving from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi, where cases have been detected, its health ministry said.
On Friday, Switzerland banned direct flights from South Africa and the surrounding region due to the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, while also imposing restrictions on travel from other countries including Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium.
Entry from those countries would only be possible for Swiss citizens or those with a residence permit in Switzerland or the broader Schengen area.
Now, following the detection of new Omicron cases, travellers from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi will need to present a negative COVID-19 test and quarantine for ten days as well, the Federal Office of Public Health said in a tweet.

Two cases of Omicron found in Australia

Back to Australia, and health authorities in New South Wales have confirmed that the two overseas travellers that tested positive overnight have been infected with the new Omicron variant.
Both passengers arrived from southern Africa on Saturday evening, and underwent testing last night.
Both cases are asymptomatic and in isolation at special health accommodation, and both are fully vaccinated.

Over 100,000 of the most vulnerable people have not had third jab
Michael Savage - The Guardian
A quarter of people with severely suppressed immunity that leaves them highly vulnerable to Covid have still not had a third vaccination, according to official figures.
The figure emerged just days after NHS England contacted cancer specialists and services across the country asking them to assist in boosting the numbers, with concerns that it means more than 100,000 extremely vulnerable people are yet to have their third jab. A letter from the NHS sent earlier this month said that 30% were still without the third vaccination, which has since fallen to 25%.
Read more here.

Maldives barring travellers from seven African countries from Sunday
The Maldives said it was barring travellers from seven African countries from Sunday over concerns about the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. Travellers will not be allowed into Maldives from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Travellers who arrived from these countries over the past two days will have to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Summary so far today:

• Cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 are continuing to be detected in countries across the world. Australia confirmed two cases on Sunday, joining Britain, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic among others that have declared cases.
  
• Boris Johnson said arrivals to the UK have to take a PCR test by the second day of their arrival and self-isolate until they have a negative result after the first cases of the new variant were reported in Nottingham and Essex. Face coverings will also become compulsory in shops and on public transport in the UK from next week.
  
• US government expert Dr Anthony Fauci said he “would not be surprised” if the Omicron variant was already in the US. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation.
  
• Israel is to ban the entry of visitors from all countries due to the Omicron variant. The country will also reintroduce counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology for contact testing in order to contain the spread of the new strain.
  
• China would face a ‘colossal” outbreak if it opened up society along the lines of the USA, a study by mathematicians has said. It could have 630,000 Covid-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies, according to researchers at Peking University.
  
• There was concernabout the Omicron variant in the Netherlands after 61 people tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on two flights from South Africa on Friday. Further tests were under way to determine if any of them had the Omicron variant.
  
• Health officials in New South Wales confirmed two cases after people arrived on a flight from southern Africa on Saturday and tested positive to the coronavirus. Some states and territories are tighteniung up their borders to stop any spread, but New South Wales’s opening up plan remains in place.
  

UK measures intended to control the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been described as “a watered-down version of Plan B” by Professor Lawrence Young.
The professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick said it is a “shame” the measures introduced by Boris Johnson do not go as far as to advise people to work from home and use vaccine passports.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “I think what we’re looking at at the moment is what I call ‘Plan B lite’. It’s a shame that we’re just not going a little bit further.
“That’s not about lockdowns, but it’s about encouraging people to work from home where possible and thinking about how we, you know, dare I say, use some form of vaccine passport just to make sure that we’re all safe.
“So, what we heard yesterday, and what’s likely to happen over the next few weeks, is a watered-down version of Plan B and the hope is that that will be sufficient so we don’t end up in a really difficult situation at Christmas.”

Austria detects its first case of Omicron

Austria has detected its first suspected case of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in the Tirol, Reuters reports.
A traveller who returned from South Africa last week tested positive for COVID-19 with indications of the new variant, though confirmation requires further sequencing over the coming days, Tirol authorities said in a statement.
South Africa’s discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on investor fears that it could stall recovery from the pandemic. Cases were detected in several European countries on Saturday, including Italy and Germany.
Austria had already powered down public life last Monday with its fourth national coronavirus lockdown, becoming the first western European country to reimpose the unpopular measure this autumn owing to surging COVID-19 infections.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has urged people to act on the assumption the riskier new Omnicron Covid variant is circulating in Scotland and follow all the existing face-covering and restrictions.
Severin Carrell - The Guardian
Sturgeon told the Andrew Marr programme on BBC1 that the variant, which originated in southern Africa, had not yet been detected in Scotland. But she added: “I’m asking people to behave in Scotland just now as if it is present.”
She said tougher restrictions, including on travel, could be needed if the variant caught hold. The Scottish government has already matched all the restrictions on travel from southern Africa introduced by the UK government for English airports last week.
“I think we may need to go further to restrict travel in the next few days,” she said. “I think we need to be open minded to doing anything to keep the population safe right now.”
She said that “on the upside”, health experts and ministers knew what to do in these situations, and the vaccines were still effective at limiting its spread and its ill-effects. She urged people to take up vaccines and booster jabs.

Travel from Ireland to Britain will not be affected by Covid restrictions implemented following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Gerard Donaghy - Irish Post
The British Government yesterday unveiled new travel restrictions and containment measures following the identification of two cases of the new variant in Essex and Nottingham.
These include 10 African countries being added to Britain's red list and the compulsory wearing of masks in shops and on public transport.
However, the British Embassy in Dublin has confirmed that travel from Ireland to England — and all members of the Common Travel Area (CTA) — is not affected by the new measures.
A test will only be required if a passenger has also travelled outside of the CTA within the previous 10 days.

No Covid-19 test

In a tweet this morning, the British Embassy in Dublin said: "New COVID-19 measures have been announced for England.
"Current rules for travel within the Common Travel Area (CTA) remain unchanged.
"No COVID-19 test or quarantine is required if travelling within CTA and not outside of CTA in previous 10 days."

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney confirmed the decision, tweeting: "Happy to receive CONFIRMATION that new #COVID19 international travel measures announced by U.K. Govt, involving extra PCR testing on arrival, will NOT apply to the CTA.
"So travellers from #Ireland to U.K. will be unaffected."

Meanwhile, Ireland's National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said it was aware of reported Omicron cases in Britain and elsewhere and will monitor the situation.

Mandatory hotel quarantine

Anyone travelling to Britain from one of 10 African countries is now subject to mandatory hotel quarantine for 10 days.
The countries affected are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs has said to "avoid non-essential travel" to seven of those countries — Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Face coverings

As part of Britain's measures to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, from next week, all international arrivals must take a Day 2 PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of their vaccination status, and will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace.

Meanwhile, face coverings will be made compulsory in shops and on public transport, although hospitality settings will be exempt.
The "precautionary" measures are to be reviewed in three weeks.

The UK government has confirmed that PCR tests will not be required for any passengers travelling from Ireland, the isle of Man or Channel Islands.
Travel will remain free of the new restrictions in the common travel areas.
The British embassy in Dublin confirmed the development this morning.
The confirmation will be a relief to all the Irish families planning their first Christmas in Ireland in two or three years who may otherwise have reviewed or cancelled trips because of onerous cost of tests.

The exemption of the common travel area from new Covid-19 restrictions against the Omicron variant has been welcomed by the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister.
Simon Coveney clarified that travellers from Ireland to the UK will not be affected by the measures against the new Covid-19 variant.
On Saturday the Irish Department of Health announced its own measures to mitigate against Omicron, including mandatory home quarantine regardless of vaccine status.
Returning Irish residents will be required to undergo strict home quarantine regardless of vaccine/recovery/test status, and undergo PCR testing during quarantine.

The Omicron variant reveals the true global danger of ‘vaccine apartheid’
Larry Elliott - The Guardian
Economics viewpoint: Mandatory face masks are back in England. The fear factor has returned. After months of assuming the Covid-19 pandemic was all but over, the UK government has imposed new restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Financial markets didn’t wait for the announcement from Downing Street. It is far too early to know how big a threat the new strain poses but investors assumed the worst as soon as the reports arrived from southern Africa. Share prices fell heavily, with airline stocks the hardest hit as travel bans were re-introduced.
Toughening up restrictions in the west in response to Omicron is a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, because for months the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been warning rich developed countries that an end to the pandemic requires poor people as well as rich to be vaccinated.
Read more.

The Dutch public health authority confirmed Sunday that 13 people who arrived in the Netherlands on flights from South Africa on Friday have so far tested positive for the new omicron coronavirus variant
AP reports.
The 61 people who tested positive for the virus on Friday after arriving on the last two flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport before a flight ban was put in place were immediately put into isolation while sequencing was carried out to establish if they had the new variant.
The public health institute said in a statement that testing was continuing on the samples.
Most of the 61 people who tested positive were put into isolation at a hotel near the airport, while a small number were allowed to sit out their quarantine at home under strict conditions.
“The Omicron variant has so far been identified in 13 of the positive tests. The investigation has not yet been completed. The new variant may be found in more test samples,” the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in a statement.

The expert whose modelling helped instigate the first lockdown welcomed the new measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus but said all options should be kept on the table in case it spreads very rapidly.
Professor Neil Ferguson, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said he expects to see “substantially larger numbers” of the Omicron variant in the coming days in the UK.
He told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend programme: “We together with the Netherlands ... we’re the two European countries with the largest number of passenger flights to and from South Africa, so it’s likely we’ll detect quite a lot more cases in the coming days.”
He said he backs the new measures announced by the Government as “proportionate” to slow the spread of the new variant during the “waiting game” over the next two weeks as scientists analyse its properties.

Germany said on Sunday it had detected a total of three cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant after a suspected infection in the western state of Hesse was confirmed.
“The sequencing has confirmed the result - the suspected case which was made public yesterday morning is the Omicron variant,” Kai Klose, Social Affairs Minister in the state of Hesse tweeted.
On Saturday he said a suspected Omicron case had been found in a passenger arriving from South Africa in Hesse, home to Frankfurt airport, one of Europe’s busiest air hubs.
On Saturday, health officials in the southern state of Bavaria detected two cases of the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
Restrictions on air travel from South Africa took effect on Sunday after it was classified as a virus-variant area. This means airlines can fly only Germans to Germany from South Africa and even those who are vaccinated must spend 14 days in quarantine.

Thousands protest in Prague on Sunday against anti-coronavirus restrictions
Several thousand people protested in Prague against anti-coronavirus restrictions on Sunday as many Czech hospitals halted non-urgent procedures in the face of one of the world’s fastest rates of new infections.
Gathered in a park overlooking the Czech capital’s centre, protesters waved national flags and carried signs with slogans such as: “Get vaccinated? Over your dead bodies”.
The outgoing government toughened measures on Thursday, including a ban on Christmas markets, which was one of the main themes at Sunday’s rally.
“I am here to fight for freedom. I am here because I don’t agree with what is happening today,” Jiri Hulec told Reuters.
Czech hospitals, including the largest one, Prague’s Motol, have ceased planned operations and limited other care in the past days as the number of patients with COVID-19 has doubled to around 6,000 over the past three weeks.

People protest against the government COVID-19 measures with a banner reading ‘Stop Covid-fascism’ in Prague, Czech Republic. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA

Morocco to suspend all incoming air travel from around the world
Morocco is suspending all incoming air travel from around the world, starting on Monday, for two weeks because of the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Foreign Ministry has announced.
The ministry tweeted that the decision was taken to “preserve the achievements realised by Morocco in the fight against the pandemic, and to protect the health of citizens”. It noted the spread of Omicron in Africa and Europe, AP reports.
Morocco kept its borders closed for months in 2020 because of the pandemic, fearing that its health system would not be able to manage the surges of patients seen in Europe.
The kingdom in north Africa has had one of Africa’s highest rates of confirmed infections, but is also at the forefront of the continent’s vaccination effort, with 66% of its population having received at least one dose.

Round-up of the main developments in the pandemic in the past few hours:

• Authorities in the Netherlands confirmed that 13 people who arrived on flights from South Africa on Friday have so far tested positive for the new omicron coronavirus variant, AP reports. The 61 people who tested positive for the virus on Friday were immediately put into isolation while sequencing was carried out to establish if they had the new variant.
  
• Under-40s in the UK “should expect” to get the booster earlier than previously thought. The deputy chair of the The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI ), said there was a “strong argument” for raising immunity in the whole community.
  
• The UK health secretary has said there is a reason to think that the Omicron variant may make the current vaccines “less effective”. Sajid Javid said that mandatory mask wearing on public transport and in shops would come into force on Tuesday in a “temporary” measure in response to the new strain.
  

UK records third positve Omicron infection

The UK has recorded its third case of the new Omicron variant.
The UK Health Security Agency said the individual, who has since left the UK, had travelled to southern Africa.
“Our advanced sequencing capabilities enable us to find variants and take rapid action to limit onward spread,” Jenny Harries, chief executive of UKHSA, said in a statement.

“It is very likely that we will find more cases over the coming days as we are seeing in other countries globally and as we increase case detection through focused contact tracing.”
The Sun’s political editor, Harry Cole, tweets that a big contact tracing operation is under way in Westminster, where the individual visited.

UK reports 39,567 new Covid cases and 51 deaths

The UK reported 39,567 new Covid infections in the past 24 hours, sightly down from the 49,344 new positive tests on Friday. The seven-day average is now 43,228 new cases a day.
A further 51 Covid-related deaths were reported on Sunday, down from 131 on Saturday and 160 on Friday. (Reported figures tend to be lower at weekends.)
In efforts to suppress the virus and stamp out new Omicron cases, the UK will re-introduce temporary measures for mask-wearing on public transport and in shops from Tuesday.

What exacty is the Omicron variant?
The New York Times has this helpful explainer.

Each coronavirus contains nearly 30,000 letters of RNA. This genetic information allows the virus to infect cells and hijack them to make new viruses.
Omicron carries about 50 mutations not seen in combination before, including more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that the coronavirus uses to attach to cells.
The spike protein has several mutations found in other variants of concern, including D614G, N501Y, K417N and E484A, which lies at the same location as E484K, the “Eek” mutation.
More research is needed to determine whether Omicron’s collection of mutations will give the variant an advantage over widely circulating variants like Delta, or cause more severe disease.

European Commission President warns of global 'race against time' against Omicron
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said the world faces a “race against time” to understand the new Covid variant and, if necessary, modify vacciens to counter it.
“We know we are now in a race against time,” von der Leyen said on Sunday, AFP reported. She called for the public to take precautions now – so scientists have time to understand Omicron and chart a path forward.
“The scientists and manufacturers need two to three weeks to have a full picture about the quality of the mutations of this Omicron variant,” she said.
It comes after BioNTech said it could tweak its Covid vaccine, made with Pfizer, in 100 days if needed.
“We need to buy time,” she said, urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks and practise social distancing.

Voters in Switzerland firmly backed Covid passes on Sunday.
A referendum resulted in 62% approval for the Covid certificate, which requires people to have had a vaccination or antibodies to enter restaurants and other indoor spaces, based on a high 65% turnout.
The restrictions have been in place since September. The highest referendum support came from Basel City and Zurich.
The result comes after a divisive campaign and rising Covid cases. Switzerland reported 8,033 new Covid cases on Friday, climbing from 3,297 on 25 October, and 15 new deaths.

Swiss voters queue from Muenster Bridge to the Zurich City Hall to vote at a polling station. Photograph: Michael Buholzer/EPA

The UK steps up targeted testing in Brentwood, Essex, one of three places alongside Nottingham and Westminster to record Omicron variant cases.
Targeted testing is now underway across Essex, with two locations stressed by authorities.
Essex County Council said churchgoers and staff who attended Trinity Church in Pilgrims Hatch on 21 November should take a PCR test, PA reports.
The council also said customers, staff and delivery couriers who visited KFC on Brentwood High Street on 19 November between 1pm and 5pm whould take a PCR test.
People who tested positive, plus all members of their households, are being re-tested and told to isolate, said the Department of Health & Social Care. Targeted testing is now underway across Essex.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that anyone coming into contact with an Omicron-positive person must self-isolate at home for 10 days – whether they are vaccinated or not.


Face masks to be mandatory again in schools and colleges in England
Richard Adams - The Guardian
Students at schools and colleges in England will need to wear masks again, after the Department for Education told principals and headteachers that face coverings should now be worn in communal areas by staff, visitors and students in year 7 and above. Year 7 is for children aged 11 and is the first year of state secondary school in England.
Students and staff who are “suspected or confirmed close contacts of the Omicron variant” will be asked to self-isolate for 10 days regardless of vaccination status or age. Currently only confirmed cases need to isolate.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It appears that the Omicron variant may result in more staff and pupil absence thereby worsening an already very grave situation.
“It is therefore imperative that the government provides workforce funding to schools and colleges to help with the cost of supply cover for absent staff.
“Schools and colleges are in a position of having to provide in-class teaching for some groups of students, and remote education for other groups of students, at the same time as experiencing Covid-related staff absence. They simply cannot sustain the ongoing costs of the supply cover that is required.
“The government must also promote a public campaign to encourage twice-weekly home Covid testing among eligible pupils in order to reduce the risk of transmission.
“We have made these calls on many occasions. It is clear that this crisis is not going away, and we once again call upon the government to give the sector the backing that it needs.”
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary for England, said: “We are taking targeted and proportionate action as a precaution while we find out more information about the new variant.”
Zahawi added: “We are working with education and childcare settings to enhance safety measures where needed, including introducing isolation for 10 days for close contacts of suspected Omicron cases.”

Stricter lockdown measures came into effect in the Netherlands on Sunday, as the country sees climbing Covid rates and at least 13 infections of the new Omicron variant.
The Netherlands recorded 22,031 new Covid infections on Saturday, up from 13,848 new cases two weeks beforehand.
At least 13 travellers flying into Amsterdam on Friday tested positive for the new Omicron strain, which the World Health Organization has labelled a “variant of concern” for its high transmissability.
Public places such as restaraunts, bars, non-essential shops, theatres and cinemas must close between 5pm and 5am amid new curfew measures.
The Dutch government has said all non-urgent surgeries, such as hip replacements, will be postponted to free up intensive care beds, after Dutch hospitals warned ICU units could be overwhelmed by the end of the week.

Anthony Fauci warns of potential US "fifth wave" over climbing cases and slowing vaccination
Anthony Fauci, US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Sunday the US could face a potential Covid “fifth wave” amid rising cases, stagnating vaccination rates and the “troubling” Omicron variant.“Right now we have the window into the mutations that are in this new variant,” Fauci told NBC’s Meet the Press, “and they are troublesome in the fact that there are about 32 or more variants in that very important spike protein of the virus, which is the business end of the virus.

“In other words, the profile of the mutations strongly suggest that it’s going to have an advantage in transmissibility and that it might evade immune protection that you would get, for example, from the monoclonal antibody or from the convalescent serum after a person’s been infected and possibly even against some of the vaccine-induced antibodies.
“So it’s not necessarily that that’s going to happen, but it’s a strong indication that we really need to be prepared for that.”

The US has not yet recorded an Omicron variant infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Fauci urged the 62 million eligible Americans who are not yet vaccinated to get jabbed.
Victoria Bekiempis in New York has the full story here.

G7 health ministers to hold urgent meeting on Monday over Omicron strain

G7 health ministers will hold an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss the Omicron variant.
The G7 is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US, and currently the UK holds presidency.
The meeting follows a flurry of positive Omicron test results in the UK, Germany and Italy, with the French health minister saying on Sunday that the strain is likely to also be circulating in France. “There is no identification yet, but it’s a matter of hours,” Olivier Veran said.
“Under the UK presidency an urgent meeting of G7 health ministers will also be convened on Monday 29 November to discuss the developments on Omicron,” the Department of Health and Social Care said on Sunday.

Plans to identify positive Omicron infections have been activated in Northern Ireland, UK.
“Using passenger locator data, the Public Health Agency is identifying and contacting individuals who have recently arrived in Northern Ireland from red list countries,” health minister Robin Swann said on Sunday. “They and their household members will be asked to self-isolate and undertake PCR tests. If any positive cases are detected, the sample will then undergo whole genome sequencing to determine the variant type.”
No Omicron cases are confirmed in Northern Ireland but England has recorded three infections so far.
Swann urged the public to follow steps to beat back infections, such as:

• Getting vaccinated, including booster jabs
  
• Wearing face coverings
  
• Ventilating rooms or meeting outdoors
  
• Working from home if possible
  
• Washing hands regularly.
  

The Czech president Miloš Zeman carried out the prime minister’s inauguration ceremony from a glass perspex cubicle on Sunday, after becoming the latest in a long tally of world leaders to test positive for Covid.
Zeman sat in a wheelchair and wore a face covering while appointing Petr Fiala, of the centre-right Civic Democratic party, as prime minister at the Lány Chateau near Prague. He was accompanied by a medic in full protective gear.
Leaders such as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, former US president Donald Trump, Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, who became critically ill with the disease, have all tested positive for the virus.
Fiala ousted incumbent Andrej Babiš, whose offshore financial arrangements were spotlighted by The Guardian’s Pandora Papers investigation published last month.
The new Czech government’s agenda includes suppressing a new wave of Covid infections threatening to overwhelm hospitals, with Czech positive tests surging to 27,793 on Friday from 5,842 four weeks before on 29 October.
The Czech government declared a 30-day state of emergency on Friday, introducing new restrictions such as banning Christmas markets and imposing a 10pm curfew on restaraunts, bars and nightclubs.

Czech President Miloš Zeman waves as he appoints Petr Fiala prime minister from a glass cubicle after testing positive for Covid. Photograph: Roman Vondrous/AFP/Getty Images