Here is today’s Coronavirus update for Canada and the World starting with Biden, who is set to kick off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get COVID-19 booster shots as he unveils his winter plans for combating the coronavirus and its omicron variant with enhanced availability of shots and vaccines but without major new restrictions.
But first, this Twitter post made me smile…
The plan includes a requirement for private insurers to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests and a tightening of testing requirements for people entering the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status. But as some other nations close their borders or reimpose lockdowns, officials said Biden was not moving to impose additional restrictions beyond his recommendation that Americans wear masks indoors in public settings.
Biden said Wednesday that the forthcoming strategy, to be unveiled during a speech at the National Institutes of Health, would fight the virus “not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more.”
The White House released details of Biden’s plan early Thursday, in advance of the speech.
The Biden administration has come to view widespread adoption of booster shots as its most effective tool for combating COVID-19 this winter. Medical experts say boosters provide enhanced and more enduring protection against COVID-19, including new virus variants.
About 100 million Americans are eligible for boosters under current U.S. policy, with more becoming eligible every day. Convincing those who have already been vaccinated to get another dose, officials believe, will be far easier than vaccinating the roughly 43 million adult Americans who haven’t gotten a shot despite widespread public pressure campaigns to roll up their sleeves.
And while Biden’s vaccination-or-testing requirement for workers at larger employers has been held up by legal challenges, the president on Thursday will renew his call for businesses to move ahead and impose their own mandates on workers so they can stay open without outbreaks.
In an effort to encourage more people to take the booster doses, the Biden administration is stepping up direct outreach to seniors — the population most vulnerable to the virus. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will send a notice to all 63 million Medicare beneficiaries encouraging them to get booster doses, the White House said. The AARP will work with the administration on education campaigns for seniors.
So far about 42 million Americans, about half of them seniors, have received a booster dose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week broadened its booster dose recommendation to cover all Americans aged at least 18 starting six months after their second dose of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna.WATCH | WHO expert talks about omicron’s early days — and what scientists are doing to learn more about the new variant:
The World Health Organization says that every tool used to fight the delta coronavirus variant needs to be strengthened against omicron. (Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters) 2:17
-From The Associated Press, last updated at 6:45 a.m. ET
WATCH | Doctors search to solve long COVID as patients fight to recover:
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors and health experts are searching to find a cause and treatment for long COVID, while patients are simply fighting for their recovery. 6:14
WATCH | Omicron variant renews uncertainty for travelers:
The uncertainty around the omicron variant and new COVID-19 testing and isolation requirements have some wondering if international travel is about to be upended again. 2:04
As of early Thursday morning, more than 263.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.2 million.
In Africa, the heavily mutated omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly becoming dominant in South Africa, less than four weeks after being identified there, authorities said, as other countries tightened their borders against the new threat.
In Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Thursday that the omicron variant, which the World Health Organization has deemed a variant of concern (VOC), could be responsible for more than half of all COVID-19 infections in Europe within a few months. According to a document the EU public health agency published on Thursday, preliminary data from South Africa suggests omicron may have “a substantial growth advantage” over the delta.
“If this is the case, mathematical modeling indicates that the omicron VOC is expected to cause over half of all SARS-CoV-2 infections in the EU/EEA within the next few months,” the document says.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea broke its daily record for coronavirus infections for a second straight day on Thursday with more than 5,200 new cases, as pressure mounted on a healthcare system grappling with rising hospitalizations and deaths. The rapid delta-driven spread comes amid the emergence of the new omicron variant, which is seen as potentially more contagious than previous strains of the virus and has fuelled concerns about prolonged pandemic suffering.
Jung Eun-kyeong, the commissioner of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said the government plans to conduct omicron testing on all international passengers who test positive for the coronavirus and will work with biotech companies to develop new tests that could detect the variant faster. Anyone who comes in close contact with a person infected with omicron will be required to quarantine for a minimum of two weeks, even if they are fully vaccinated, she said in a briefing.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday confirmed its first cases of the omicron coronavirus variant in two people who traveled abroad, and a top medical expert urged people to get vaccinated.
India’s Health Ministry said the cases include two men in southern Karnataka state who came from abroad. It did not say which country. Health official Lav Agarwal said all contacts of the two men had been traced and tested for the virus.
In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates reported its first case of the new omicron variant in an African woman arriving from an African country through an Arab country, according to state news agency WAM.
In the Americas, the new omicron variant of the coronavirus is likely to soon spread to other countries in North and South America after being detected in Canada and Brazil, the Pan American Health Organization said.
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