Cases of omicron doubling every 2 to 3 days in UK
Sajid Javid, Community transmission of Omicron
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59553460
Multiple regions of England
with no links to international travel
21 Omicron cases in England linked to travel from Nigeria
Cases + 90 = 336 confirmed
No hospital admissions
Could not guarantee omicron would not knock us off our road to recovery
Incubation period may be shorter
So a person will become infectious sooner
Omicron to become dominant in the next few weeks
UK response
10,000 vaccinators were being recruited
450 military
Pre-departure tests
Red lists
Masks in shops and public transport
Omicron case contacts required to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of vaccine status
UK Health Security Agency, 500,000 tests per day
Dominic Raab
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/59559623
Plan B. not required because of success of the vaccination programme.
Government is taking, targeted and proportionate approach
Denmark
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/europe/britain-denmark-omicron-cases.html
Omicron, 183 confirmed on Sunday
Triple the Friday estimate
Henrik Ullum, Danish Statens Serum Institut
The time we gain, we must use to get as many people vaccinated as possible
And the shots will be aspirated (JC)
Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director Covid-19 genomics initiative, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Omicron spreading faster than Delta
UK’s dominant variant within a matter of weeks
It is too early to make this assumption (on severity)
If only a small proportion of people get seriously ill with Omicron,
a small faction of a really big number can still cause problems
Prof Paul Hunter
New variant could be spreading faster than the currently dominant Delta variant,
would probably start to overtake Delta within the next few weeks
Prof Tim Spector
UK omicron, probably at least 1,000 to 2,000
New variant can only be picked up by 30-40% of PCR tests
Symptoms from Omicron appear at the moment more similar to a cold,
rather than the classic Covid symptoms of a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss of sense of taste or smell
This means many cases may be missed
Omicron cases are expected to double around every two days
Anthony Fauci on omicron
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-us-expert-fauci-cautiously-optimistic-over-omicron-reports/a-60029060
Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to the omicron variant
But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta
Mayor Bill de Blasio (NY)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59552524
All New Yorkers will need to be vaccinated if they want to go to work
Public sector employers already
Mandate will now be extended to all private sector employees
From 27th December, 184,000 businesses
Omicron (10 cases so far)
Holiday gatherings
Cold weather
Should be assumed, already community spread in New York
Already mandating
Morgan Stanley, Blackrock and Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, Walgreens, Walmart
President Cyril Ramaphosa, SA
We are experiencing a rate of infections that we have not seen since the pandemic started
Argentina
First case on Sunday
Also Brazil, Mexico, Chile
Russia
First confirmed cases on Monday
Ten people tested positive returning from SA
Two had omicron variant
Asia
Thailand, Nepal, first cases on Monday
India
Up to 21 cases
Source