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What a difference a week makes. Does anyone even remember what the news was before Thanksgiving? The new and highly mutated Covid variant announced its presence on the world stage on Thanksgiving Day – a day after South Africa issued an alert – over a normally sleepy WHO Q&A that's livestreamed on the organization's social media channels. I have more on that below.
Spencer Kimball and Annika Constantino have the latest on cases. Abigail Ng in Singapore and Holly Ellyatt in London find that omicron will dominate the world in a few months and has likely been circulating a lot longer than realized. Meg Tirrell updates us on just how contagious omicron appears to be.
| | WHO labels new Covid strain, named omicron, a 'variant of concern' | It took the World Health Organization almost six months after it was first detected in India to categorize Delta as a "variant of concern." Omicron? Two days. South Africa notified WHO of the troubling new and highly mutated variant last Wednesday. What they saw worried them enough to (two days later on Nov. 26) label it a variant of concern and give the B.1.1.529 strain its own name: omicron. The variant has some 50 mutations altogether, more than 30 of which are in the spike protein that allows the virus to bind to human cells. These mutations have led scientists to conclude that the new Covid may be far more contagious than the already highly infections delta variant and have the potential to evade vaccines.
-Dawn Kopecki and Sam Meredith | | | | Omicron appears to be spreading faster than delta, but degree of severity is unclear | Cases are multiplying quickly in South Africa, to the extent that this omicron-driven wave appears to have the shortest case-doubling time yet seen: 1.2 days, compared with 1.5 for delta. South African epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim told us that while there are more younger people being hospitalized, including children, it's not clear that the disease is more severe for them, or overall. He said at this point it looks similar to delta. Meanwhile, both Pfizer and Moderna joined CNBC Monday morning to discuss their efforts against omicron, including developing updated vaccines they anticipate could be ready within three months, should they be needed.
-Meg Tirrell | | | | WHO says Covid omicron variant detected in 38 countries | When WHO declared omicron a variant of concern, it was in a handful of countries. By early Friday, it was in at least 38 with new cases coming to light every day. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program, said "clearly the virus does appear to be transmitting efficiently." Whether it's more or less infectious or more or less severe remains to be seen. Early reports of mild symptoms in some of the first cases where it was identified were based on a cluster of university students who tend to be younger and experience more mild symptoms than older adults.
-Spencer Kimball | | | | Eight U.S. states confirm at least 20 cases | California reported the nation's first omicron case on Wednesday, kicking off a rapid-fire succession of state health agencies coming forward over the next two days. Minnesota on Thursday said it had a patient who had just returned from an Anime convention in NYC. New York officials, who didn't have any cases that morning, had five by the end of the day, all in the New York metro area. By late Friday afternoon, at least eight states confirmed 20 cases. Many of those who were infected were previously vaccinated and reported mild symptoms.
-Annika Constantino | | | | Omicron has likely been spreading for a while | There are now increasing signs that the variant was circulating in other countries before South Africa's health authorities alerted the world to its presence. There are a growing number of cases being discovered with no travel connection to the region, suggesting community transmission is taking place. In Scotland in the U.K., for example, nine cases have been detected that have been traced back to a "single private event" held on Nov. 20 and none of the individuals involved are believed to have any recent travel history to southern Africa. Then, on Tuesday, the Netherlands said it had identified the omicron variant in two test samples taken in the country between Nov. 19 and 23 — before the variant was first reported by South Africa and travel bans came into place.
-Holly Ellyatt | | | | Omicron will likely 'dominate and overwhelm' the world in 3-6 months | The new Covid variant omicron will likely "overwhelm the whole world" in the coming months. While vaccines against the strain can be developed quickly, they need to be tested over three to six months to prove that they can provide immunity against the variant, Dr. Leong Hoe Nam of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said Wednesday. "But frankly, omicron will dominate and overwhelm the whole world in three to six months," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."
-Abigail Ng | | | | U.S. Covid vaccinations spike | Covid vaccinations spiked late this week as more and more states confirmed their first cases of omicron. CDC data shows nearly 2.2 million shots in arms were reported to the agency over a 24-hour period ended Thursday, the largest single-day total since May. Roughly half of those shots were booster doses, White House Covid-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar wrote in a tweet Thursday, and nearly a third were initial doses, or people getting their very first shots. Walgreens told us they've seen increased demand for both vaccinations and testing over the past week. "This is important progress in the president's plan to combat COVID 19 and confront the Omicron variant this winter," White House Covid czar Jeff Zeints told reporters Friday.
-Nate Rattner | | | | U.S. issues new travel guidance | The CDC is tightening travel rules to and within the U.S., requiring all in-bound international passengers to test for Covid within 24 hours of departure starting on Monday and extending its mask requirement on planes and public transportation through March 18.The tightened pre-departure testing protocols will apply to all in-bound international travelers regardless of vaccination status and will begin next week. Previously, the U.S. required proof of a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of departure, though this was tightened to only vaccinated travelers last month. Unvaccinated travelers had to have a negative Covid test within one day of departure.
-Annika Constantino | |
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