coronavirus
Vaccine makers racing to update COVID shots, just in case
Vaccine makers are racing to update their COVID-19 shots against the newest coronavirus threat even before it’s clear a change is needed, just in case.
Experts doubt today’s shots will become useless but say it’s critical to see how fast companies could produce a reformulated dose and prove it works -- because whatever happens with omicron, this newest mutant won’t be the last.
Omicron “is pulling the fire alarm. Whether it turns out to be a false alarm, it would be really good to know if we can actually do this -- get a new vaccine rolled out and be ready,” said immunologist E. John Wherry of the University of Pennsylvania.
It’s too soon to know how vaccines will hold up against omicron. The first hints this week were mixed: Preliminary lab tests suggest two Pfizer doses may not prevent an omicron infection but they could protect against severe illness. And a booster shot may rev up immunity enough to do both.
Better answers are expected in the coming weeks and regulators in the U.S. and other countries are keeping a close watch. The World Health Organization has appointed an independent scientific panel to advise on whether the shots need reformulating because of omicron or any other mutant.
But authorities haven’t laid out what would trigger such a drastic step: If vaccine immunity against serious illness drops, or if a new mutant merely spreads faster?
“This is not trivial,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, Pfizer’s vaccine partner, said shortly before omicron’s discovery. A company could apply to market a new formula “but what happens if another company makes another proposal with another variant? We don’t have an agreed strategy.”
Read:COVID cases spike even as US hits 200M vaccine milestone
It’s a tough decision — and the virus moves faster than science. Just this fall the U.S. government’s vaccine advisers wondered why boosters weren’t retooled to target the extra-contagious delta variant — only to have the next scary mutant, omicron, be neither a delta descendent nor a very close cousin.
If vaccines do need tweaking, there’s still another question: Should there be a separate omicron booster or a combination shot? And if it’s a combo, should it target the original strain along with omicron, or the currently dominant delta variant plus omicron? Here’s what we know.
COMPANIES AREN’T STARTING FROM SCRATCH
COVID-19 vaccines work by triggering production of antibodies that recognize and attack the spike protein that coats the coronavirus, and many are made with new technology flexible enough for easy updating. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are fastest to tweak, made with genetic instructions that tell the body to make harmless copies of the spike protein — and that messenger RNA can be swapped to match new mutations.
Pfizer expects to have an omicron-specific candidate ready for the Food and Drug Administration to consider in March, with some initial batches ready to ship around the same time, chief scientific officer Dr. Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press.
Moderna is predicting 60 to 90 days to have an omicron-specific candidate ready for testing. Other manufacturers that make COVID-19 vaccines using different technology, including Johnson & Johnson, also are pursuing possible updates.
Pfizer and Moderna already have successfully brewed experimental doses to match delta and another variant named beta, shots that haven’t been needed but offered valuable practice.
NOT CLEAR IF TWEAKS ARE NEEDED
So far, the original vaccines have offered at least some cross-protection against prior variants. Even if immunity against omicron isn’t as good, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, hopes the big antibody jump triggered by booster doses will compensate.
Pfizer's preliminary lab testing, released Wednesday, hint that might be the case but antibodies aren’t the only layer of defense. Vaccines also spur T cells that can prevent serious illness if someone does get infected, and Pfizer's first tests showed, as expected, those don't seem to be affected by omicron.
Also, memory cells that can create new and somewhat different antibodies form with each dose.
"You're really training your immune system not just to deal better with existing variants, but it actually prepares a broader repertoire to deal with new variants,” Dolsten said.
How aggressive a mutant is also plays a role in whether to reformulate the vaccine. Omicron appears to spread easily but early reports from South African scientists hint that it might cause milder infections than previous variants.
Read: Scientist behind UK vaccine says next pandemic may be worse
HOW TO TELL IF UPDATES WORK
The FDA has said companies won’t need massive studies of tweaked vaccines but small ones to measure if people given the updated shot have immune responses comparable to the original, highly effective shots.
Wherry doesn't expect data from volunteers testing experimental omicron-targeted shots until at least February.
WHAT ABOUT COMBINATION SHOTS?
Flu vaccines protect against three or four different strains of influenza in one shot. If a vaccine tweak is needed for omicron, authorities will have to decide to whether to make a separate omicron booster or add it to the original vaccine -- or maybe even follow the flu model and try another combination.
There’s some evidence that a COVID-19 combo shot could work. In a small Moderna study, a so-called bivalent booster containing the original vaccine and a beta-specific dose caused a bigger antibody jump than either an original Moderna booster or its experimental beta-specific shot.
And scientists already are working on next-generation vaccines that target parts of the virus less prone to mutate.
Omicron brings “another important wake-up call,” Wherry said -- not just to vaccinate the world but create more versatile options to get that job done.
Global Covid cases top 267 million
The overall number of global Covid cases has now crossed 267 million amid the emergence of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 267,087,259 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,270,558 Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 49,380,791 cases to date and more than 791,514 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,157,726 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 616,018.
In India, which is currently seeing a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, the tally rose to 34,648,383, according to the federal health ministry.
Read: COVID-19: India's 50 pc adults fully vaccinated, Centre targets 100 pc 1st dose coverage by December 31
India’s Covid-19 death tally mounted to 473,757 during the same period. Besides, India has so far confirmed 23 cases of the Omicron variant.
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged five more Covid-linked deaths and 291 fresh cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily case positivity rate increased again to 1.45 percent from Monday’s 1.44 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 28,010 while the caseload mounted to 15,78,011.
Among the latest deceased, four were men and one was a woman. Four deaths were reported from Dhaka division, while one was from Chattogram division.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 percent during the period.
Read: Omicron brings COVID-19 vaccine inequity 'home to roost'
The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,868 samples, amid the growing concern over the new Omicron variant.
Besides, the recovery rate slightly increased to 97.78 percent, with the recovery of 308 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
Of the 113 deaths recorded from November 1 to November 30, 12.4 percent received Covid jabs while 87.6 percent did not, the DGHS mentioned.
So far, 3,84,97,417 people have fully been vaccinated in the country, while 6,53,07,376 received the first dose as of Monday, according to the directorate.
Among them, 1,39,802 students, aged from 12-17, have fully been vaccinated, while 9,70,160 students received the first dose so far.
Omicron v. delta: Battle of coronavirus mutants is critical
As the omicron coronavirus variant spreads in southern Africa and pops up in countries all around the world, scientists are anxiously watching a battle play out that could determine the future of the pandemic. Can the latest competitor to the world-dominating delta overthrow it?
Some scientists, poring over data from South Africa and the United Kingdom, suggest omicron could emerge the victor.
“It’s still early days, but increasingly, data is starting to trickle in, suggesting that omicron is likely to outcompete delta in many, if not all, places,” said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, who monitors variants for a research collaboration led by Harvard Medical School.
But others said Monday it’s too soon to know how likely it is that omicron will spread more efficiently than delta, or, if it does, how fast it might take over.
Also read: More omicron detected as US hospitals strain under delta surge
“Especially here in the U.S., where we’re seeing significant surges in delta, whether omicron’s going to replace it I think we’ll know in about two weeks,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Many critical questions about omicron remain unanswered, including whether the virus causes milder or more severe illness and how much it might evade immunity from past COVID-19 illness or vaccines.
On the issue of spread, scientists point to what’s happening in South Africa, where omicron was first detected. Omicron’s speed in infecting people and achieving near dominance in South Africa has health experts worried that the country is at the start of a new wave that may come to overwhelm hospitals.
The new variant rapidly moved South Africa from a period of low transmission, averaging less than 200 new cases per day in mid-November, to more than 16,000 per day over the weekend. Omicron accounts for more than 90% of the new cases in Gauteng province, the epicenter of the new wave, according to experts. The new variant is rapidly spreading and achieving dominance in South Africa’s eight other provinces.
“The virus is spreading extraordinarily fast,” said Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute. “If you look at the slopes of this wave that we’re in at the moment, it’s a much steeper slope than the first three waves that South Africa experienced. This indicates that it’s spreading fast and it may therefore be a very transmissible virus.”
But Hanekom, who is also co-chair the South African COVID-19 Variants Research Consortium, said South Africa had such low numbers of delta cases when omicron emerged, “I don’t think we can say” it out-competed delta.
Also read: How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant?
Scientists say it’s unclear whether omicron will behave the same way in other countries as it has in South Africa. Lemieux said there are already some hints about how it may behave; in places like the United Kingdom, which does a lot of genomic sequencing, he said, “we’re seeing what appears to be a signal of exponential increase of omicron over delta.”
In the United States, as in the rest of the world, “there’s still a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “But when you put the early data together, you start to see a consistent picture emerge: that omicron is already here, and based on what we’ve observed in South Africa, it’s likely to become the dominant strain in the coming weeks and months and will likely cause a surge in case numbers.”
What that could mean for public health remains to be seen. Hanekom said early data from South Africa shows that reinfection rates are much higher with omicron than previous variants, suggesting the virus is escaping immunity somewhat. It also shows the virus seems to be infecting younger people, mostly those who are unvaccinated, and most cases in hospitals have been relatively mild.
But Binnicker said things could play out differently in other parts of the world or in different groups of patients. “It’ll be really interesting to see what happens when more infections potentially occur in older adults or those with underlying health conditions,” he said. “What’s the outcome in those patients?”
As the world waits for answers, scientists suggest people do all they can to protect themselves.
“We want to make sure that people have as much immunity from vaccination as possible. So if people are not vaccinated they should get vaccinated,” Lemieux said. “If people are eligible for boosters, they should get boosters, and then do all the other things that we know are effective for reducing transmission -- masking and social distancing and avoiding large indoor gatherings, particularly without masks.”
Global Covid cases near 266 million amid Omicron surge
The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 266 million amid the emergence of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 265,825,855 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,255,457 Monday morning.
The US has recorded 49,085,361 cases to date and more than 788,363 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Meanwhile, New York announced three more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight, reports AP.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 6 more deaths with 197 fresh cases
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,143,091 cases as of Monday, while its Covid death toll rose to 615,636.
India recorded a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, as 2,796 more people died, according to its federal health ministry's official figures.
For the last few days, the death toll had been around 400 in India. The total death toll in the country stood at 473,326 on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,633,255 on Sunday, with 8,895 new cases during the past 24 hours across the country, showed its federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, India's tally of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 rose from five on Sunday morning to 21 in the evening.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged six more Covid-linked deaths along with 197 fresh cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate declined to 1.03 per cent from Saturday’s 1.07 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 28,001 while the caseload mounted to 15,77,443.
Among the latest deceased, three each were men and women. Five deaths were reported from Dhaka division while one each was from Mymensingh division.
However, the mortality rate increased to 1.78 per cent during the period.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,123 samples, amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus.
Besides, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.77 per cent with the recovery of 226 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
So far, 37,829,420 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 64,414,430 received the first dose as of Thursday, according to the DGHS.
Among them, 86,637 students, aged from 12-17, have fully been vaccinated while 899,510 students received the first dose so far.
Read: No Covid lockdown right now in Bangladesh: Health Minister
No new lockdown
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday ruled out the possibility of any further Covid-induced lockdown in Bangladesh.
“The covid situation in Bangladesh is under control now and there’s no possibility to enforce any lockdown in the country,” he said.
Zahid said there is no need to worry about the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, which has no presence in the country.
He said Bangladesh now has enough stock of vaccines and preparation to face any situation.
More omicron detected as US hospitals strain under delta surge
New York announced three more cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight.
“The omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread," state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a news release.
The number of states finding the variant is growing as well, with Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington state announcing their first cases Saturday, a day after New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported their first confirmed cases. Missouri reported its first presumed case Friday.
The variant also has been detected in Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah.
Read:US drugstores squeezed by vaccine demand, staff shortages
In New York, seven of the cases have been found in New York City, once a global epicenter of the pandemic, and the other in Suffolk County.
The arrival of omicron comes as hospitals statewide continue to strain under a surge in coronavirus cases, most traced to the delta variant, along with staffing shortages.
The number of people testing positive statewide each day for the virus has doubled in the last 30 days.
Gov. Kathy Hochul in recent days has authorized the Health Department to limit nonessential, non-urgent procedures at hospitals close to running out of beds and deployed National Guard teams to relieve healthcare workers at facilities dealing with staffing issues and surging caseloads.
Fifteen members of the National Guard arrived at Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester on Saturday, WROC reported. Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said Wednesday the state would send 13 National Guard teams to the western New York county, where County Executive Adam Bello has declared a state of emergency.
New York’s omicron cases so far appear to be unrelated, Hochul said. One of the known cases involved a man from Minnesota who was among 50,000 people who attended a three-day anime festival in New York City in November. Authorities have urged anyone who attended the conference to get tested for COVID-19 and wear a mask in public.
Much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it can thwart vaccines and whether it makes people as sick as the original strain.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Saturday reported his state's first confirmed case of the variant, saying it may also be linked to the New York City anime convention. The case involves a vaccinated Hartford-area man in his 60s who has a family member who attended the convention. The family member, who is also vaccinated, developed symptoms that have since resolved, Lamont’s office said.
In Washington state, three cases of the omicron variant were confirmed Saturday — one each in Thurston, Pierce and King counties, state health officials said. They noted the investigation is still early, and details were not yet known on the travel histories of the patients, two men and a woman who range from 20 to 39 years old.
A Massachusetts woman in her 20s who had traveled out of state is the first known case of the variant detected in her state, the Department of Public Health announced Saturday. The unidentified woman — a resident of Middlesex County — is fully vaccinated and has experienced mild symptoms.
Read:New data suggests 1 in 44 US children affected by autism
A woman who recently traveled from South Africa became both New Jersey and Georgia’s first confirmed case after seeking care for moderate symptoms at an emergency room. The fully vaccinated Georgia resident was in her home state for two days between arriving from South Africa and traveling onward to New Jersey, health officials in both states said.
Maryland's first three cases of the omicron variant were found in the Baltimore metropolitan region and include two people from the same household, authorities said. One of the two is a vaccinated person who recently traveled to South Africa. The third case, detected in a vaccinated person with no recent travel history, is unrelated.
In Pennsylvania, a man in his 30s from Philadelphia became that state's first case. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health did not immediately say whether the man was vaccinated against COVID-19 or if he had been traveling.
Missouri’s presumed first case involves someone who recently traveled within the U.S., according to state health officials, who did not provide additional details about the St. Louis resident. The St. Louis Health Department said it was awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Case counts in California, Nebraska and Colorado grew Friday.
Five cases in Northern California were linked to a wedding in Wisconsin late last month, public health officials said. One of the individuals had recently returned from traveling internationally, according to the Alameda County Department of Public Health.
Health officials confirmed six new cases of the variant in southeastern Nebraska. State health officials said the state’s first case likely stemmed from one of the six who recently traveled to Nigeria and returned on Nov. 23.
Colorado detected the state’s second case of the omicron variant just a day after the state’s first confirmed case, officials said Friday.
“We knew the omicron variant was coming and we expect to see more cases. But let me be clear: We are not defenseless,” Hochul said. “We have the tools to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus: Get your vaccine, get your booster, and wear your mask."
Meanwhile, 10 people aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship approaching New Orleans have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Saturday night. The Norwegian Breakaway departed the city Nov. 28 and was due to return this weekend after making stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico in recent days, Louisiana's health agency said. More than 3,200 people are on board. Officials did not immediately say whether the passengers had been tested for virus variants.
Global Covid cases near 266 million
The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 266 million amid the emergence Omicron, a new variant of Coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 265,331,453 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,248,492 till Sunday morning.
The US has recorded 49,051,140 cases to date and more than 788,202 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,138,247 cases as of Saturday, while its Covid death toll rose to 615,570.
READ: Global Covid cases surpass 264 million
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,624,360 on Saturday, as 8,603 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Besides, as many as 415 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 470,530.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged six more Covid-linked deaths, the highest in the past one week, along with 176 fresh cases in 24 hours till Saturday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate increased to 1.07 per cent from Friday’s 1.40 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 27,995 while the caseload mounted to 15,77,246.
Among the latest deceased, two were men and four were women. Three deaths were reported from Dhaka division while one each was from Rajshahi, Barishal and Sylhet divisions.
However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.77 per cent.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 16,223 samples, amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus.
Besides, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.77 per cent with the recovery of 162 more patients during the 24-hour period.
READ: Global Covid cases surpass 263 million
On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
So far, 37,829,420 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 64,414,430 received the first dose as of Thursday, according to the DGHS.
Among them, 86,637 students, aged from 12-17, have fully been vaccinated while 899,510 students received the first dose so far.
Global Covid cases surpass 264 million
The overall number of Covid cases has surged past 264 million amid the global scare over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 264,130,163 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,233,846 Friday morning.
Omicron raised alarm because of its sheer number of mutations, more than prior variants had. Possibly 30 are in a key place, the spike protein that lets the virus attach to human cells, reports AP.
The US has recorded 48,832,302 cases to date and more than 785,907 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
The US recorded its first confirmed case of the Omicron variant Wednesday — in a vaccinated traveller who returned to California after a trip to South Africa — as scientists around the world race to establish whether the new, mutant version of the coronavirus is more dangerous than previous ones, reports AP.
Also read: India reports first two Covid cases of Omicron variant
Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert, announced the finding at the White House.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,118,782 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 615,225.
Brazil on Wednesday reported its third case of Omicron, after a Brazilian national who arrived from eastern Africa over the weekend tested positive.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,609,741 on Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 469,724.
India Thursday reported its first two known Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant, discovered in two men aged 46 and 66, respectively, in the southern state of Karnataka, Indian Health Ministry's joint secretary Lav Agarwal told the media in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that 23 countries across the world have reported cases of the highly mutated Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Also read: Bangladesh reports 3 more Covid-linked deaths
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged three more Covid-linked deaths and 261 fresh cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily case positivity rate declined to 1.24 percent from Tuesday’s 1.50 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 27,986 while the caseload mounted to 15,76,827.
Among the latest deceased, two were women and another was a man. The deaths were reported from the Dhaka, Mymensingh and Khulna divisions.
However, the mortality rate declined to 1.77 percent.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 21,244 samples, amid the growing concern over the new Omicron variant.
Besides, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.77 percent with the recovery of 313 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
So far, 3,72,68,384 people have fully been vaccinated in the country, while 6,27,33,739 received the first dose as of Wednesday, according to the directorate.
END/UNB/FA/JM
Japan retracts new flight bookings ban after criticisms
Japan says it has retracted a ban on new incoming international flight bookings to defend against the new variant of the coronavirus only a day after the policy was announced, following criticisms that it was an overreaction.
The transport ministry on Wednesday issued a request to international airlines to stop taking new reservations for flights coming into Japan until the end of December as an emergency precaution to defend against the new omicron variant.
The ministry said Thursday it has retracted the request after receiving criticisms that the ban was too strict and tantamount to abandoning its own people.
Read: Japan bans entry of foreign visitors as omicron spreads
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the quick reversal of the policy took into consideration Japanese nationals' traveling needs. Kishida has been pushing to take strong precautionary measures after his predecessor Yoshihide Suga virtually lost his leadership position amid public criticism that his virus measures were too limited and too slow.
“I have instructed the transport ministry to fully pay attention to the needs of Japanese citizens to return home,” Kishida said.
The request had aimed to reduce Japan's daily international arrivals to 3,500 from an earlier level of 5,000 to tighten border controls as the new variant spread around the world, officials said.
“The request, issued as an emergency precaution, triggered confusion,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Thursday. He said the transport ministry has retracted the request for a uniformed stoppage on new bookings.
But a limit remains in place because the daily cap of 3,500 arrivals is being maintained. New bookings can be made as long as there is room under this cap, said transport ministry official Hitoshi Inoue.
Japan has already banned entry of foreign nationals from around the world, except for spouses of Japanese nationals, those with permanent residency permits and others subject to special considerations.
Read: Japan’s former princess leaves for US with commoner husband
Japan has reported two cases of the omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa last week.
Japan had been easing social and economic restrictions after infections rapidly slowed since September.
The booking ban request was a disappointment for many people who were planning trips during the holiday season, including Japanese citizens living overseas hoping to return home for the New Year period.
Many on social media criticized the measure as too strict, and one user compared it to Japan’s feudal-era national isolation policy.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.
Global Covid cases near 263 million
The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 263 million amid the global race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 262,735,124 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,214,863 Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 48,554,890 cases to date and more than 780,140 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Read: Global Covid cases top 262 million
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, has registered 22,094,459 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 614,681.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,587,822 on Wednesday, as 4,225 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Besides, another 190 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Wednesday morning, taking the total death toll to 468,790.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it's not yet clear whether Omicron easily spreads from person to person compared to other variants, even though the number of people testing positive has risen in South Africa where this variant was involved.
It's also not yet clear whether Omicron causes more severe disease, but preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalisation in South Africa, which however may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, reports Xinhua.
WHO classified on Friday the latest variant B.1.1.529 of SARS-CoV-2 virus, now with the name Omicron, as a ‘Variant of Concern’ (VOC).
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged one Covid-linked death along with 273 fresh cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus.
With the latest cases, the daily case positivity rate rose to 1.38 percent from Monday’s 1.34 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Omicron: What we know about the COVID-19 Variant so far
With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 27,981 while the caseload mounted to 15,76,284.
The latest deceased was a woman in her 60s and was from the Dhaka division.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 percent.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,924 samples, the directorate added.
Besides, the recovery rate increased to 97.76 percent, with the recovery of 368 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases.
So far, 3,66,82,766 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 6,02,36,018 received the first dose as of Monday, according to the directorate.
However, public health experts fear a slow pace of vaccination, waning vaccine immunity, disregard for Covid safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travel may set the stage for another Covid wave in Bangladesh -- a trend many European countries are witnessing now.
More omicron cases pop up as world rushes to learn more
Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it's not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus.
The variant was identified days ago by researchers in South Africa, and much is still not known about it, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or more able to evade the protection of vaccines. But many countries rushed to act, reflecting anxiety about anything that could prolong the pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people.
Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday — among the most drastic of a growing raft of travel curbs being imposed by nations around the world as they scrambled to slow the variant's spread. Scientists in several places — from Hong Kong to Europe to North America — have confirmed its presence. The Netherlands reported 13 omicron cases on Sunday, and both Canada and Australia each found two.
Noting that the variant has already been detected in many countries and that closing borders often has limited effect, the World Health Organization called for frontiers to remain open.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, meanwhile, emphasized that there is no data yet that suggests the new variant causes more serious illness than previous COVID-19 variants.
Read:In omicron hot spot, somber mood as S Africa faces variant
"I do think it’s more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa. It has the earmarks therefore of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another. … What we don’t know is whether it can compete with delta,” Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Collins echoed several experts in saying the news should make everyone redouble their efforts to use the tools the world already has, including vaccinations, booster shots and measures such as mask-wearing.
“I know, America, you’re really tired about hearing those things, but the virus is not tired of us,” Collins said.
The Dutch public health authority confirmed that 13 people who arrived from South Africa on Friday have so far tested positive for omicron. They were among 61 people who tested positive for the virus after arriving on the last two flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport before a flight ban was implemented. They were immediately put into isolation, most at a nearby hotel.
Canada’s health minister says the country's first two cases of omicron were found in Ontario after two individuals who had recently traveled from Nigeria tested positive.
Authorities in Australia said two travelers who arrived in Sydney from Africa became the first in the country to test positive for the new variant. Arrivals from nine African countries are now required to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival. Two German states reported a total of three cases in returning travelers over the weekend.
Israel moved to ban entry by foreigners and mandate quarantine for all Israelis arriving from abroad.
And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday that Japan is considering stepping up border controls. Kishida told reporters that he planned to announce new measures in addition to the current 10-day quarantine requirement for travelers from South Africa and eight other nearby countries. Japan still has its border closed to foreign tourists from any country.
Morocco's Foreign Ministry tweeted Sunday that all incoming air travel to the North African country would be suspended to “preserve the achievements realized by Morocco in the fight against the pandemic, and to protect the health of citizens.” Morocco has been at the forefront of vaccinations in Africa, and kept its borders closed for months in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The U.S. plans to ban travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday. “It’s going to give us a period of time to enhance our preparedness,” the United States’ top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the ban on ABC’s “This Week.”
Many countries are introducing such bans, though they go against the advice of the WHO, which has warned against any overreaction before the variant is thoroughly studied.
Fauci says it will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity and other characteristics of omicron, according to a statement from the White House.
South Africa's government responded angrily to the travel bans, which it said are “akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.”
Read:Dutch, Australians find omicron variant: others halt flights
The WHO sent out a statement saying it “stands with African nations” and noting that travel restrictions may play “a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods." It said if restrictions are put in place, they should be scientifically based and not intrusive.
In Europe, much of which already has been struggling recently with a sharp increase in cases, officials were on guard.
The U.K. on Saturday tightened rules on mask-wearing and on testing of international arrivals after finding two omicron cases, but British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government was nowhere near reinstituting work from home or more severe social-distancing measures.
“We know now those types of measures do carry a very heavy price, both economically, socially, in terms of non-COVID health outcomes such as impact on mental health,” he told Sky News.
Spain announced it won't admit unvaccinated British visitors starting Dec. 1. Italy was going through lists of airline passengers who arrived in the past two weeks. France is continuing to push vaccinations and booster shots.
David Hui, a respiratory medicine expert and government adviser on the pandemic in Hong Kong, agreed with that strategy.
He said the two people who tested positive for the omicron variant had received the Pfizer vaccine and exhibited very mild symptoms, such as a sore throat.
“Vaccines should work but there would be some reduction in effectiveness,” he said.