November 29 Omicron Covid-19 variant news

India says it “stands ready” to support countries in Africa affected by the Omicron variant, including providing vaccines and medical supplies.

In a statement Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was offering support to countries experiencing Omicron outbreaks by providing drugs, test kits, gloves, PPE kits and medical equipment such as ventilators.

The ministry also encouraged African nations to order India's Covid-19 vaccines through COVAX, the World Health Organization’s global vaccine sharing program, or bilaterally.

"We express our solidarity with the countries, particularly in Africa, who have so far been affected by the Omicron variant," the MEA said. 

The MEA said the government has approved all orders placed so far by COVAX for supplies of Covishield, a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca-Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute of India, to African nations such as Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Guinea and Lesotho.

Supplies of the India-made Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin have also been approved for Botswana.

“Any new requirement projected either bilaterally or through COVAX will be considered expeditiously,” according to the statement.

To date, India has supplied more than 25 million doses of its domestically developed vaccines to 41 countries in Africa through donations and COVAX supplies.

The world population needs to be vaccinated urgently to ensure any future coronavirus variants are stopped before they can begin, a special adviser to the director general of the World Health Organization said Monday.

Variants can develop when the virus spreads, making areas with low vaccination rates particularly dangerous. The next variant of concern can be prevented if more of the world is protected, but there is a lot of work to do, Singer said.

The vaccination rate is currently only about 7% in Africa, he said. 

In the meantime, Singer said, people need to be cautious as scientists work out how much of a threat Omicron poses. “I think a prudent approach here is called for and that means raising your guard,” he said.

Singer said that included getting vaccinated, wearing a mask and physical distancing. 

“Those are prudent things that people can do to take in their own hands while the answers are being sorted out,” he said.

Ecuador announced new travel restrictions Monday on arrivals from a number of African countries in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The countries include South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Namibia. The measures will go into effect Wednesday.

At the same time, Lasso said Ecuador's border with Colombia would be reopened in phases, starting with the transport of goods.

In order to enter Ecuador, all travelers must present their vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours. Children under the age of 16 must present a negative PCR test.

At least 70 countries and territories have now imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the new variant.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Monday he's not panicking about the Omicron variant but his company is readying an updated vaccine just in case one is needed.

“I think I’m concerned, but I’m not in panic — as the President said. I think we have been preparing for a moment like that for the last few months and I think we are now really very well prepared to win this battle,” Bourla told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Bourla said it will take two to three weeks to be able to fully assess how well the Pfizer vaccine works against Omicron. “I doubt that the results will be that we can find ourselves that we are not protecting at all,” Bourla said.

Whether or not the vaccine is as effective against Omicron as it is against the Delta variant, boosters should reduce the threat dramatically, Bourla said.

Pfizer has already started producing a Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeting Omicron, as it has with other variants, Bourla said. “If indeed we need it, we will not waste any time,” he said.

The company had produced a vaccine specifically formulated against the Delta variant and another against the Beta variant, but didn’t need either, because its original vaccine worked well against those strains. If a new vaccine is needed for Omicron, Bourla said it would take 100 days or fewer to get it tested and into production.

“We should be able to transition manufacturing to this new vaccine without losing any single dose, almost any single dose, from the current capacity,” Bourla said.

Everyone around the world must have access to vaccinations, Bourla said.

At least 69 countries and territories have imposed travel restrictions in response to the spreading Omicron variant, according to analysis and data compiled by CNN. 

1. Angola    
2. Argentina   
3. Australia   
4. Austria*
5. Bahrain   
6. Belgium*
7. Brazil   
8. Bulgaria*
9. Canada   
10. Chile  
11. Colombia    
12. Croatia*
13. Cuba    
14. Czech Republic*
15. Denmark*
16. Egypt    
17. Estonia*
18. Fiji  
19. Finland*
20. France*
21. Germany*
22. Greece*
23. Guatemala    
24. Hong Kong   
25. Hungary*
26. India     
27. Indonesia   
28. Ireland*
29. Israel 
30. Italy*
31. Japan     
32. Jordan   
33. Kuwait   
34. Latvia*
35. Lithuania*
36. Luxembourg*
37. Malaysia   
38. Maldives   
39. Malta*
40. Morocco   
41. Netherlands*
42. New Zealand   
43. Norway    
44. Oman   
45. Pakistan  
46. Paraguay  
47. Philippines   
48. Poland*
49. Portugal*
50. Qatar   
51. Republic of Cyprus*
52. Romania*
53. Russia    
54. Rwanda  
55. Saudi Arabia    
56. Singapore   
57. Slovakia*
58. Slovenia*
59. South Korea   
60. Spain*
61. Sri Lanka   
62. Sweden*
63. Switzerland  
64. Taiwan   
65. Thailand   
66. Turkey   
67. United Arab Emirates  
68. United Kingdom  
69. United States

*European Union member state

The Omicron variant will likely make it more difficult for countries to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University School of Public Health, said Monday.

“What concerns me about this, the variant, is two things. One, is pretty good circumstantial, but good, evidence that it is highly contagious, maybe more contagious than the Delta variant,” Jha told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

Jha said he was also concerned because many of the mutations seen in Omicron affect the spike protein, which is the part of the virus specifically targeted by vaccines and certain treatments such as monoclonal antibodies.

While vaccine maker Moderna has said it is working on a potential Covid-19 booster that would specifically work against the Omicron variant, Jha said no one should wait for it to get a booster. 

“There’s good reason to believe that a boosted person will have, still, a pretty good degree of protection against this specific variant. Not perfect, maybe not 100%, but still a good degree of protection, and whether we are going to need an Omicron-specific booster or not, that will be down the road,” he said.  

At least 17 countries and territories have confirmed Omicron variant cases, according to analysis and data compiled by CNN.

Spain and Austria both reported their first cases of the Omicron variant in the past 24 hours, while Germany confirmed its first infection with no overseas travel history.

1. Australia  
2. Austria  
3. Belgium  
4. Botswana  
5. Canada  
6. Czech Republic  
7. Denmark  
8. Germany  
9. Hong Kong  
10. Israel  
11. Italy  
12. Netherlands  
13. Portugal  
14. South Africa  
15. Spain  
16. Sweden  
17. United Kingdom  

Travel bans don’t really work to stop the spread of coronavirus variants, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said Monday.

“I think this is really an illusion of protection,” the professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “The metaphor that I have been using — it’s like locking a screen door. You feel like you’ve done something to protect yourself, but you really haven’t.”

Foreign travelers to the United States have to be fully vaccinated and tested and those kinds of measures are effective at reducing the import of viruses, Reiner said.

While dozens of countries, including the US, have restricted travel from some African countries, such restrictions will not stop the spread of the Omicron variant. In fact, Reiner and several other scientists have said that they think Omicron is likely present in the US already.

“I’m not sure what this ban will achieve, other than to add some disincentive to other countries that might be looking to do intense sequencing and identify variants,” Reiner said. “This might incentivize those countries to maybe, you know, back off on that a little bit because no good deed goes unpunished.”

A 39-year-old man from Leipzig has been diagnosed with the Omicron variant, the first confirmed case in Germany with no travel history, according to health officials.

The infected man had not traveled abroad recently nor had any contact with anyone who had traveled overseas, Leipzig Health Department director Regine Krause-Döring said.

It's the fourth Omicron case to be discovered in Germany. Two previous infections were detected in Munich and a third case was found in the state of Hesse.