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not doomsday...

omicronomicron

Countries around the world are racing to introduce travel bans and restrictions on southern African countries in an effort to contain the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The moves come after the variant was officially named by health officials.

Omicron had many mutations and early evidence suggested an increased reinfection risk, the WHO said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers arriving in Amsterdam from South Africa were tested for the new variant.

Some 61 people on two KLM flights tested positive for Covid-19 and have been quarantined at a hotel near the airport while they have further tests, Dutch officials said.

Passengers travelling from Cape Town to Manchester via Amsterdam told the BBC that they were held on the tarmac at Schiphol Airport in the Dutch capital for four hours, before eventually disembarking.

 

The Netherlands is currently struggling with a record-breaking surge in cases. A partial lockdown - involving early closure of bars, restaurants and most shops - comes into force there on Sunday.

The new Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on 24 November.

It has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. 

Travellers from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini will not be able to enter the UK unless they are UK or Irish nationals, or UK residents.

US officials said flights from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi would be blocked, mirroring earlier moves taken by the EU. They will come into effect on Monday.

A host of other countries have also announced restrictions, including the following:

 
  • Australia announced on Saturday that flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique would be suspended for 14 days. Non-Australians who have been in those countries in the past two weeks are now banned from entering Australia
  • Japan has announced that from Saturday, travellers from much of southern Africa will need to quarantine for 10 days and take a total of four tests during that time
  • India has ordered more rigorous screening and testing for travellers arriving from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong
  • Iran will ban travellers from six southern African countries, including South Africa. Iranians arriving from the region will be admitted after testing negative twice, state TV says
  • Brazil also said it was restricting travel to the region from six countries in Africa
  • Canada is barring all foreign nationals who have travelled through South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini or Mozambique in the last 14 days
  • Thailand is also banning entry by travellers from eight southern African countries

The WHO said the number of cases of this variant, initially named B.1.1.529, appeared to be increasing in almost all of South Africa's provinces. 

"This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning,"the UN public health body said in a statement.

It said "the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November". 

The WHO said it would take a few weeks to understand the impact of the new variant, as scientists worked to determine how transmissible it was.

A top UK health official warned that vaccines would "almost certainly" be less effective against the new variant.

But Professor James Naismith, a structural biologist from the University of Oxford, added: "It is bad news but it's not doomsday."

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59442129

 

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stay calm...

 

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he is not concerned about the plunge in the US stock market and he had expected it over concerns related to the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

"I expected it," Biden told reporters when asked if he is worried about the stock market plunge.

Earlier on Friday, the US stock market fell 900 points over concerns about the new variant of the novel coronavirus detected in southern Africa.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 905 points lower, losing 2.5%, as all sectors slid sharply into negative. The S&P 500 slipped 2.27%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.23%, according to CNBC.

 

Dow Jones closed down >900 points in biggest drop since Oct 2020 as new COVID variant sparks market plunge. It's the worst Black Friday on record for the Dow, acc to Dow Jones Market Data. WHO says new Coronavirus strain detected in Southern Africa is variant of concern. pic.twitter.com/CsxdzsfK9r

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) November 26, 2021

 

Global oil prices also plummeted, with the benchmark blend of oil, Brent, losing 11.26% to slip from $82.26 to around $72.84 per barrel and the American benchmark blend, WTI, losing 12.57% to reach $68.16 per barrel as of 16:52 GMT.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/20211126/biden-says-not-concerned-about-us-stock-market-plunge-as-he-expected-it-1091056310.html

 

 

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panic...

It has been one week since the world first learnt about the new coronavirus variant, Omicron.

Evidence now suggests it was circulating in Europe before it was detected by health experts in South Africa.

Dutch health authorities said on Wednesday morning that its RIVM health institute has found Omicron in samples dating from November 19 and 23.

 

It had previously been thought that two flights that arrived from South Africa on Sunday (local time) had brought the first cases of the variant to the Netherlands.

Further tests show those passengers have tested positive to a number of different strains of Omicron.

“This means that the people were very probably infected independently from each other, from different sources and in different locations,” a RIVM spokesman said.

South Africa first reported the discovery of a new variant to the United Nations health agency on November 24 after scientists ran tests on a sample taken from November 9.

The Dutch discovery throws up more questions about the variant raising anxiety levels across the world.

The WHO has warned that the global risk from the variant is “very high” and early evidence suggests it could be more contagious.

Preliminary evidence raises the possibility that the variant has mutations that could help it both evade an immune-system response and boost its ability to spread from one person to another.

Despite the global worry, doctors in South Africa are reporting patients are suffering mostly mild symptoms.

 

But they warn that it is early and most of the new cases are in people in their 20s and 30s, who generally do not get as sick from COVID-19 as older patients.

 

 

Read more: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2021/12/01/covid-omicron-netherlands/

 

Read from top.

 

This is going to keep big Pharma busy and rich...

 

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infectionations...

High COVID-19 vaccination rates were expected to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in populations by reducing the number of possible sources for transmission and thereby to reduce the burden of COVID-19 disease. Recent data, however, indicate that the epidemiological relevance of COVID-19 vaccinated individuals is increasing. In the UK it was described that secondary attack rates among household contacts exposed to fully vaccinated index cases was similar to household contacts exposed to unvaccinated index cases (25% for vaccinated vs 23% for unvaccinated). 12 of 31 infections in fully vaccinated household contacts (39%) arose from fully vaccinated epidemiologically linked index cases. Peak viral load did not differ by vaccination status or variant type [

[1]

]. In Germany, the rate of symptomatic COVID-19 cases among the fully vaccinated (“breakthrough infections”) is reported weekly since 21. July 2021 and was 16.9% at that time among patients of 60 years and older [

[2]

]. This proportion is increasing week by week and was 58.9% on 27. October 2021 (Figure 1) providing clear evidence of the increasing relevance of the fully vaccinated as a possible source of transmission. A similar situation was described for the UK. Between week 39 and 42, a total of 100.160 COVID-19 cases were reported among citizens of 60 years or older. 89.821 occurred among the fully vaccinated (89.7%), 3.395 among the unvaccinated (3.4%) [

[3]

]. One week before, the COVID-19 case rate per 100.000 was higher among the subgroup of the vaccinated compared to the subgroup of the unvaccinated in all age groups of 30 years or more. In Israel a nosocomial outbreak was reported involving 16 healthcare workers, 23 exposed patients and two family members. The source was a fully vaccinated COVID-19 patient. The vaccination rate was 96.2% among all exposed individuals (151 healthcare workers and 97 patients). Fourteen fully vaccinated patients became severely ill or died, the two unvaccinated patients developed mild disease [

[4]

]. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies four of the top five counties with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated population (99.9–84.3%) as “high” transmission counties [

[5]

]. Many decisionmakers assume that the vaccinated can be excluded as a source of transmission. It appears to be grossly negligent to ignore the vaccinated population as a possible and relevant source of transmission when deciding about public health control measures.

 

Read more:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(21)00258-1/fulltext?s=08

 

This article is indicative that the vaccines are not 100 per cent proof. We have known SINCE THE BEGINNING considering the efficiency of vaccines rated at "60%", "80%" or "92.5%" or whatever. The difference falls between the cracks. As well, vaccinated people can still be vectors/carriers.

 

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