(Reuters) – South Korea will extend tougher social distancing rules for three more weeks amid concerns over a looming wave of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, officials said.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Omicron has become Germany’s dominant coronavirus variant accounting for 73.3% of cases nationwide compared with 44.3% seven days ago, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases wrote in its report.
* A French administrative tribunal suspended an order that masks be worn on the streets of Paris, AFP reported. The mandate, imposed by the Paris prefecture, the local arm of the interior ministry, had been in place in the capital since Dec. 31 in a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
* British police will not investigate gatherings held in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence during a lockdown unless an internal government inquiry finds evidence of potential criminal offences.
AMERICAS
* U.S. President Joe Biden said he would send more military health workers to hospitals in six states and provide free masks and more free tests to help Americans tackle the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
* Brazil reported 97,986 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 174 COVID-19 deaths, the Health Ministry said.
* The Canadian province of Quebec is pressing ahead with a plan to levy a “health contribution” on adults refusing to get COVID-19 inoculations and will unveil details soon, premier Francois Legault said.
* The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses, a policy the conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of Americans, while endorsing a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* India reported 264,202 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking its total tally to 36.58 million, the federal health ministry said on Friday.
* China reported 201 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Jan. 13, up from 190 a day earlier, its health authority said on Friday.
* Shanghai suspended some tourism activities on Friday as part of its efforts to head off a handful of sporadic new local transmissions.
* COVID-19 hospitalisation rates in Australia’s New South Wales could plateau next week, a top health official said, as the state suffered record deaths from the virus for a third day.
* The Philippines’ coronavirus task force will extend coronavirus curbs in the capital region and other provinces until the end of January, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* Saudi Arabia waived its requirement for visitors to be fully vaccinated to allow soccer players from Spain to compete in the Spanish Super Cup on Saudi soil, sources said.
* Africa’s top public health body said it was in talks with Pfizer about securing supplies of its antiviral COVID-19 pills for the continent.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A World Health Organization panel recommended use of two drugs by Eli Lilly, and GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology for COVID-19 patients.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* The global economy is projected to grow by 4% in 2022, down from 5.5% last year, and expand 3.5% in 2023 amid COVID-19 infections, labour market challenges, supply-chain constraints and inflation, according to a U.N. report.
* Euro zone companies survived the two years of the pandemic better than expected with fewer insolvencies than feared, euro zone finance ministers are likely to conclude on Monday according to a senior euro zone official.
(Compiled by Sherry Jacob-Phillips; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta)
