29 December 2021
In the Solomon Islands, the parents of the 10-year-old child that recently tested positive for COVID-19 have also tested positive for the virus.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made the announcement in a nationwide address today. He says despite the sad news, it was encouraging to note that all other passengers who were in close contact tested negative.
PM Sogavare says all four positive cases are now in isolation.
Israel is to offer a fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to people older than 60 or with compromised immune systems, and to health workers, as part of a drive to ramp up the shots and outpace the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.A Health Ministry expert panel - whose findings have yet to be implemented - recommended on Tuesday that those eligible should receive the fourth shot at least four months after receiving their third.
"We are seeing a waning of protection against Omicron infection. This wave is growing in surprisingly high numbers," Arnon Shahar, a doctor on the expert panel, told Israel's Army Radio.
The government moved quickly against Omicron, barring foreigners from entering Israel on 25 November and expanding a list of high-risk countries to which its citizens should not travel to include the United States this week.
The Health Ministry said there were at least 340 known cases of Omicron in Israel as of Tuesday.
Northern Ireland ordered the closure of nightclubs from Sunday after reporting an all-time high of 3231 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, up from an average of just over 2000 in the previous seven days due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The devolved government of the British region also ordered an end to ordering at bars and limited restaurants to serve no more than six people per table.
Several members of the devolved administration have said they are limited in what they can do due to funding constraints from London.
A total of 2958 people have died in the region, which has a population of 1.9 million, since the start of the pandemic, data showed after three additional deaths were reported on Wednesday.
France on Wednesday reported 84,272 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, coming close to its all-time high of almost 87,000 cases in November 2020.
France's health minister earlier on Wednesday said over 100,000 new infections could be reached by the end of this month.
France has cancelled its order for Merck & Co's Covid-19 antiviral drug following disappointing trial data and hopes instead to receive Pfizer's competing drug before the end of January, the health minister said on Wednesday.
Belgium will close cinemas and theatres and play sporting fixtures behind closed doors immediately after Christmas in a tightening of coronavirus restrictions to curb a surge in cases of the Omicron variant.
Omicron now makes up 30 percent of new cases compared with only 10 percent last Friday, he said, and new measures were required to ensure pupils could return from holiday to schools from on 10 January.
From Sunday, no indoor activities will be allowed except for museum visits, exercise, weddings or funerals; a two-person limit will be set for shopping. Soccer matches and other sports events must be played without spectators.
Belgium, home to EU institutions and the headquarters of Nato, will still allow bars and restaurants to remain open until 11pm.
Portugal's health minister on Wednesday predicted the Omicron variant would trigger a record number of infections in the coming days as authorities reported nearly 9000 new cases, the highest since early February and up from 5754 the previous day.
Although the country has one of the world's highest rates of Covid-19 vaccination with about 87 percent of its 10 million population fully inoculated, daily infections have returned to levels last seen when Portugal faced its worst wave of the illness in the first two months of the year.
There are 909 people with Covid-19 in hospital compared to a peak of 6869 patients on 1 February.
The 14-day infection rate has more than doubled in the last month to reach 579 per 100,000 people on Wednesday, official data showed. About half of the new coronavirus cases in Portugal are from the Omicron variant.
To limit the spread in the run-up to the holiday season, the government announced new curbs on Tuesday, ordering nightclubs and bars to shut and telling people to work from home for at least two weeks starting on Christmas Day.
Americans are facing a second Christmas of upended holiday plans, with a surge in Covid-19 infections fueled by the now-dominant Omicron variant forcing some people to cancel travel and fret about whether it is safe to visit loved ones.
In the last seven days, the average number of US cases has risen 26 percent and cases are up 83 percent since the start of the month, according to a Reuters tally.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday reiterated his administration's pledge to assist US states in battling the wave of cases after outlining specific steps on Tuesday, such as providing stockpiled resources and mobilising 1000 troops to aid with healthcare.
In his remarks on Tuesday, he said vaccinated people should follow precautions but feel comfortable celebrating the holidays with family and travelling as planned, despite the Omicron wave.
He says the latest results means that the total number of positive COVID-19 cases registered for the country since the start of the pandemic is 24.
“Fellow citizens, the plan remains the same, to contain and eliminate the virus from our quarantine and isolation stations.
“However, these two variants are more transmissible and more dangerous than the first variant that affected the first 20 cases of COVID-19 in the country,” the Prime Minister said.
He says the WHO has described the Delta variant as the fittest, fastest and the most lethal variant of COVID-19.
“From information now available the Omicron variant spreads even faster than the Delta variant.”
The Prime Minister says the chances of these two variants reaching our communities are much higher than in the previous twenty cases.
He urges all members of the public to take precautionary measures and start wearing masks in public places and public transports.
He says people should also practice social distancing in public places, particularly in enclosed areas.
Overseas in NSW in Australia daily Covid-19 case tally has almost doubled in a day, with 11,201 new infections and three deaths recorded.
Hospitalisations have risen to 625, up from 557 in the previous reporting period, and there are now 61 patients in intensive care.
The latest figures were taken from more than 157,758 tests and it is the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases recorded in any Australian jurisdiction.
Yesterday, the state recorded 6,062 new cases from 93,581 swabs.
Enormous queues at testing sites and delays for Covid-19 results continue to grip the state, with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet promising yesterday to provide some "immediate" relief.
Many testing sites across NSW continue to operate with reduced hours over the holiday period or have not reopened.
The NSW government over the past week has blamed the testing chaos on pathology staff being exhausted, people getting swabbed unnecessarily and the Queensland government.
It said people seeking a PCR test as a condition of interstate travel accounted for a third of tests being conducted.
The Queensland government announced this morning it would scrap requirements for interstate travellers from Covid-19 hotspots to produce a negative PCR test before arriving in the state, from 1 January.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said rapid antigen tests could be used to satisfy border pass requirements from Saturday, instead of the nasal PCR test swabs that currently have to be collected by pathology clinics in the 72 hours before a traveller enters Queensland.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said yesterday he had hoped Ms Palaszczuk would axe PCR requirements sooner, saying if she could do it on New Year's Day she could do it immediately.
Perrottet, in a tense interview yesterday, had doubled down on his decision to relax restrictions on 15 December despite the emergence of the Omicron strain just days earlier.
As well as scrapping most indoor masks mandates and QR check-ins - which he reinstated just days ago - the government dropped almost all restrictions for the unvaccinated.
NSW Health said most of the 625 people currently in hospital had not received two doses of the vaccine.
Perrottet said it was a "good decision" and he stood by it, but was "incredibly sorry" for the impact it had had on vulnerable people enduring long testing queues.
He confirmed the state government had purchased 20 million rapid antigen tests and would be buying more. It was unclear when these kits would be distributed.
Today's deaths included two women, one in her 70s and one in her 90s, who died at the Warabrook Aged Care facility in Newcastle where they acquired their infections.
Both were fully vaccinated, with one having had three doses, and both had underlying health conditions.
A man in his 80s from Sydney's Inner West died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He had received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions.
Britain reported more than 100,000 new daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since widespread testing was introduced, with 106,122 on Wednesday compared with 90,629 on Tuesday
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has driven a surge in cases in the last seven days, with the total rising by 643,219, or 59 percent, according to government data.
Britain reported more than 100,000 new daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since widespread testing was introduced, with 106,122 on Wednesday compared with 90,629 on Tuesday.
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has driven a surge in cases in the last seven days, with the total rising by 643,219, or 59 percent, according to government data.
New Zealand has provided a further 40 million dollars ($F58 million) in budgetary support to help the Fijian Government respond to the immediate socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The grant was earlier announced by Foreign Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, as part of her government's wider Covid-19 economic assistance to the Pacific.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Fiji Charlotte Darlow presented the donation to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama in Suva.
Ms Darlow said the budget support would focus on social protection.
Ms. Darlow said the support package "demonstrates Aotearoa New Zealand's commitment to support Fiji to respond to the immediate economic impacts of Covid-19 and support a sustainable long-term recovery."
"This fiscal support will enable the Fijian Government to continue to support the needs of vulnerable households and sustain livelihoods," she said.
Fiji's Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said his Government appreciated another vote of confidence in Fiji's financial management through NZ's direct budgetary support to help kick-start Fiji's ongoing recovery from the global health crisis.
"For that recovery to be meaningful and sustained over the long-term, we must work towards a normalisation of trade and travel within our region," he said.
"As the region's hub, Fiji is prepared to help lead the Pacific into the new post-pandemic normal and, as nations with world-leading rates of vaccination, we look forward to re-uniting Fijians and Kiwis under both countries' reopening plans as soon and safely as possible."
High Commissioner Darlow comes to Fiji from her previous role as the Divisional Manager for the Pacific Regional Division at New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In this role, she was New Zealand's Senior Official for Pacific regional processes, including the Pacific Islands Forum and the regional CROP (science and technical) agencies.
Sources – Solomon Times Online , Solomon Star NEWs, Reuuters, and Radio New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
