Omicron, global exposure

Cases of omicron doubling every 2 to 3 days in UK

Sajid Javid, Community transmission of Omicron

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59553460

Multiple regions of England

with no links to international travel

21 Omicron cases in England linked to travel from Nigeria

Cases + 90 = 336 confirmed

No hospital admissions

Could not guarantee omicron would not knock us off our road to recovery

Incubation period may be shorter

So a person will become infectious sooner

Omicron to become dominant in the next few weeks

UK response

10,000 vaccinators were being recruited

450 military

Pre-departure tests

Red lists

Masks in shops and public transport

Omicron case contacts required to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of vaccine status

UK Health Security Agency, 500,000 tests per day

Dominic Raab

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/59559623

Plan B. not required because of success of the vaccination programme.

Government is taking, targeted and proportionate approach

Denmark

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/europe/britain-denmark-omicron-cases.html

Omicron, 183 confirmed on Sunday
Triple the Friday estimate

Henrik Ullum, Danish Statens Serum Institut

The time we gain, we must use to get as many people vaccinated as possible

And the shots will be aspirated (JC)

Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director Covid-19 genomics initiative, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Omicron spreading faster than Delta

UK’s dominant variant within a matter of weeks

It is too early to make this assumption (on severity)

If only a small proportion of people get seriously ill with Omicron,

a small faction of a really big number can still cause problems

Prof Paul Hunter

New variant could be spreading faster than the currently dominant Delta variant,

would probably start to overtake Delta within the next few weeks

Prof Tim Spector

UK omicron, probably at least 1,000 to 2,000

New variant can only be picked up by 30-40% of PCR tests

Symptoms from Omicron appear at the moment more similar to a cold,

rather than the classic Covid symptoms of a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss of sense of taste or smell

This means many cases may be missed

Omicron cases are expected to double around every two days

Anthony Fauci on omicron

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-us-expert-fauci-cautiously-optimistic-over-omicron-reports/a-60029060

Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to the omicron variant

But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta

Mayor Bill de Blasio (NY)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59552524

All New Yorkers will need to be vaccinated if they want to go to work

Public sector employers already

Mandate will now be extended to all private sector employees

From 27th December, 184,000 businesses

Omicron (10 cases so far)

Holiday gatherings

Cold weather

Should be assumed, already community spread in New York

Already mandating

Morgan Stanley, Blackrock and Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, Walgreens, Walmart

President Cyril Ramaphosa, SA

We are experiencing a rate of infections that we have not seen since the pandemic started

Argentina

First case on Sunday

Also Brazil, Mexico, Chile

Russia

First confirmed cases on Monday

Ten people tested positive returning from SA

Two had omicron variant

Asia

Thailand, Nepal, first cases on Monday

India

Up to 21 cases