Coronavirus case increament hindering economic recoveries, The swift, record-shattering spike in coronavirus cases has dampened consumer activity, spurred layoffs and forced millions of people to take care of themselves or a sick family member.
Economists says that the Omicron variant will not derail the economy as a whole, millions of frontline workers, working parents and service sector businesses are staring down another brutal pandemic winter.
Beijing's city government on Sunday introduced new measures to contain a recent outbreak of covid-19, as China's capital continued to report new local cases of the virus less than two weeks before it hosts the Winter Olympic Games.
Nine locally transmitted cases were found in Beijing on 22 January, the National Health Commission said on Sunday, of which six were in the city's Fengtai district.
The United States, the World Health Organization's top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration's long-term support for the UN agency.
The proposal, made by the WHO's working group on sustainable financing, would increase each member state's standing annual contribution, according to a WHO document published online and dated 4 January.
The published proposal calls for member states' mandatory contributions to rise gradually from 2024 so they would account for half the agency's $2 billion core budget by 2028, compared to less than 20% now, the document said.
The WHO's core budget is aimed at fighting pandemics and strengthening healthcare systems across the world. It also raises an additional $1 billion or so a year to tackle specific global challenges such as tropical diseases and influenza.
Supporters say that the current reliance on voluntary funding from member states and from charities such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation forces the WHO to focus on priorities set by the funders, and makes it less able to criticise members when things go wrong.
Top European Union donors, including Germany, back the plan, along with most African, South Asian, South American and Arab countries, three of the European officials said.
The proposal is to be discussed at the WHO's executive board meeting next week but the divisions mean no agreement is expected.
The Omicron variant arrived at a time when many countries were already beginning to glimpse a way out of the pandemic. With its rapid transmission, cases soon began to skyrocket almost everywhere in the world.
In Europe, Spain went from having a cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants of just 42 cases, to more than 3,200 registered in recent days. Three huge studies point towards the booster vaccine as the best way to avoid serious covid-19 symptoms.
South Korea posted its second-highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Sunday, despite extended Covid-19 curbs and a high vaccination rate, raising concerns of further spread during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. The country recorded 7,630 new cases on Saturday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said, above the 7,009 cases reported a day earlier and near the mid-December record of 7,848 logged.
In mid-January, South Korea extended tougher social distancing rules for three weeks, including a 9pm curfew for restaurants, cafes and bars, and limits on private gatherings, ahead of the holiday that starts on Saturday.
South Korea has recorded 733,902 Covid-19 infections and 6,540 deaths, KDCA data showed, although nearly 95% of adults have been fully vaccinated and more than half having received a booster shot. To contain the rapid spread of the virus, health officials have required proof of vaccination
and a booster to gain access to most public facilities, but a court
ruled that large shops and teenagers should be temporarily excluded from
Covid-19 vaccine pass mandates.
With cases soaring, some countries have expanded covid-19 vaccine booster programmes or shortened the gap between shots as governments scramble to shore up protection.
In an interview with Israel's N12 News, Bourla was asked whether he sees booster shots being administered every four to five months on a regular basis.
"This will not be a good scenario. What I'm hoping (is) that we will have a vaccine that you will have to do once a year," Bourla said. "Once a year - it is easier to convince people to do it. It is easier for people to remember.
"So from a public health perspective, it is an ideal situation. We are looking to see if we can create a vaccine that covers Omicron and doesn't forget the other variants and that could be a solution"
An investigation in Qatar which compared Moderna and Pfizer vaccines showed that while they use the same mRNA technology, they differ in the length of time they can offer protection from Covid-19.
The UK Health Security Agency has reported 53 cases of Omicron BA.2 subvariant, which they classify as “a variant under investigation”.
Omicron, or B.1.1.529 as it is technically known, has three main substrains - BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3. The BA.2 Stealth variant has been detected in
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