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Quote:Boris Johnson says that at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron in the UK - the first death recorded with that variant. Speaking during a visit to a vaccination clinic near Paddington, in west London, the PM says: "Sadly yes Omicron is producing hospitalisations and sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron. "So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that's something we need to set on one side and just recognise the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters."

Quote:The number of daily Covid infections in the UK has been estimated as being at 200,00, Sajid Javid has said as he warned omicron cases are going to “dramatically increase”. On Monday the UK Health Security Agency said the number of daily Covid infections had now increased to 200,000. The NHS’ Covid alert level was also raised to four, the highest possible level.

Quote:These buybacks come after share prices have surged in a historic manner, following a historically reckless money-printing binge by the Fed and other central banks, and by historically reckless interest rate repression in face of red-hot and worsening inflation. But note how buybacks collapsed to $89 billion in Q2 2020 and to $102 billion in Q3 2020, after share prices had plunged. This was based on the corporate strategy of buying high to drive up share prices even further when they’re already high, and not buying when share prices are low. When prices are high, this is also when insiders are dumping their shares, as they’re now doing, and it’s that much more important for companies to buy back those shares that insiders are dumping.

Quote:Despite multiple technological breakthroughs in the fight to control COVID-19, twice as many people died from it in 2021 compared to 2020. The Omicron variant is a stark reminder that effective vaccines are merely the first step toward ending the pandemic. Until we establish a process to manufacture vaccines at scale and distribute them where they are needed, we will lack the collective capacity to curb this or any future pandemic.

Quote:In this report, we present live neutralisation titres against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, compared with neutralisation against Victoria, Beta and Delta variants. Sera from day-28 post second-dose were obtained from participants in the Com-COV2 study who had received a two-dose COVID-19 vaccination schedule with either AstraZeneca (AZD1222) or Pfizer (BNT162b2) vaccines. There was a substantial fall in neutralisation titres in recipients of both AZD1222 and BNT162b2 primary courses, with evidence of some recipients failing to neutralise at all. This will likely lead to increased breakthrough infections in previously infected or double vaccinated individuals, which could drive a further wave of infection, although there is currently no evidence of increased potential to cause severe disease, hospitalisation or death.

Quote:Mainland China has reported its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant in the northern city of Tianjin, posing what could be the biggest threat to date to the country’s zero-Covid strategy. The Chinese authorities reported on Monday that the Omicron case was detected on 9 December from an overseas returnee, who showed no symptoms on arrival. The patient is being quarantined and treated in a designated hospital. At the same time, the eastern province of Zhejiang has been battling a rise in new infections of the Delta variant in recent weeks.

Quote:Two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid vaccine appear to have given 70% protection against hospitalisation in South Africa in recent weeks, according to a major real-world study on the potential impact of Omicron. The study released by South Africa’s largest private health insurance administrator, Discovery Health, which co-led the study with the South African Medical Research Council. It was based on more than 211,000 positive Covid test results from 15 November to 7 December, around 78,000 of which were attributed to Omicron. Two doses of the vaccine offered 93% protection against earlier variants, according to Pfizer and BioNTech. It also found two Pfizer doses provide 33% protection against infection.

Quote:Soaring Covid cases could cause major shortages across industry, hospitality and healthcare, ministers have been told, as rail companies cancelled services and Royal Mail said it was experiencing high staff absences. According to cabinet sources, Boris Johnson and England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said at a briefing that rising cases would be likely to affect businesses with mass worker absences. Whitty also told ministers to expect a “significant increase” in hospital admissions.

Quote:There are now 14 people in hospital with Omicron in the UK, the House of Commons has been told. Previously, there were thought to be 10 people

Quote:People lose a lot of protection against the Omicron variant of Covid three months after their second dose of the vaccine, England’s deputy chief medical officer says. Dr Tom Waite, who’s been answering Newsbeat listeners’ questions, says while you get “good protection” from doses one and two, it “wanes over time”. “With [the] Delta [variant] that became significant at about five to six months, with Omicron that becomes a significant drop in your protection from three months,” he says.

Quote:Cornell University reported 903 cases of Covid-19 among students between December 7-13, and a “very high percentage” of them are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated individuals, according to university officials. The school’s Covid-19 dashboard was updated late Tuesday afternoon, accounting for the jump in case numbers reported. “Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot,” said Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina in a statement. The fact that this high a level of outbreaks is happening among young people, who have robust immune systems, including those who were boosted, is not a good sign at all. Remember that boosters were first authorized for the elderly and at risk

Quote:The Omicron Covid variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, in laboratory experiments that could help explain its rapid transmission. The study, by a team from the University of Hong Kong, also found that the new variant grew 10 times slower in lung tissue, which the authors said could be an indicator of lower disease severity.