covid-19

5 MILLION could skip work next week with COVID, putting strain on businesses and transport

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  • The US recorded 900,832 new COVID cases on Friday, the second highest day ever after record set Monday
  • Deaths jumped to 2,615 for the day, a 22% increase from a week ago on a rolling average basis
  • One expert estimates 5 million people in the US may be calling out sick next week, some 3% of the workforce
  • Disruptions are forcing some businesses into de facto lockdown because they lack the staff to operate
  • Most forecasts suggest that the Omicron surge will not peak in the US until late in January
  • Dr. Fauci said on Friday that the US could soon be regularly recording 1 million new cases of COVID each day
  • Explosion of Omicron-fueled infections in the US is already causing a breakdown in basic services

The United States has posted its second-highest daily total for new COVID-19 cases, as one expert predicts some 5 million Americans could call in sick in the coming week in a major disruption to the economy and essential services.

On Friday, the US recorded 900,832 new COVID cases, second only to the more than 1 million cases recorded on Monday. The nation’s four highest caseload days since the start of the pandemic were all recorded in the past week.

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Record broken with 76,887 new cases

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One of three tests were positive on Friday

As omicron surges statewide, Florida reported 76,887 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the
highest daily number of the pandemic, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control.

This surpasses the previous record of 75,732 infections set Dec. 30.
The Florida Department of Health reported 397,114 new coronavirus cases this week
among Florida residents to bring the cumulative total to 4,562,954. With 184 more
fatalities on record, 62,688 Florida residents have died.

This week’s 184 deaths reflect an increase from the 162 reported last week, but deaths can
take several days or weeks to be reported. The majority of the newly reported deaths are
people who died before this week.The death count has not reached anywhere near
September levels, where nearly 2,500 new deaths were reported multiple weeks in a row.

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French scientists detect ANOTHER variant linked to Cameroon

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  • Mutant strain has 46 mutations making it more vaccine resistant and infectious
  • But there is little sign that it is outcompeting the dominant Omicron variant
  • Some 12 cases have been spotted to date, linked to travel to Cameroon

Another Covid variant has been found in France, according to scientists.

The mutant strain has 46 mutations that are thought to make it both more vaccine-resistant and infectious than the original virus.

Some 12 cases have been spotted so far near Marseille, with the first linked to travel to the African country Cameroon.

But there is little sign that it is outcompeting the dominant Omicron variant, which now makes up more than 60 per cent of cases in France.

The strain was discovered by academics based at the IHU Mediterranee Infection on December 10, but has not spread rapidly since.

It is yet to be spotted in other countries or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization.

Professor Philippe Colson, who heads up the unit that discovered the strain, said: ‘We indeed have several cases of this new variant in the Marseille geographical area.

‘We named it “variant IHU”. Two new genomes have just been submitted.’

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Two cases of Omicron Covid variant identified in UK

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The B.1.1.529 variant, described in Britain as ‘the most worrying we’ve seen’, was first found in southern Africa

The first cases of the new B.1.1.529 Covid-19 variant have been identified in the UK.

Two people found to be infected with the Omicron variant are self-isolating, according to the health secretary, Sajid Javid.

The two cases, which are connected, were identified in Chelmsford and Nottingham, Javid said. “The two individuals concerned are self-isolating alongside their whole household while further tests and sequencing is carried out, and contact tracing. The two cases are linked,” he said.

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New variant raises alarms

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Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world raced Friday to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on every continent.

A World Health Organization panel named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a
highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant
delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the United States.

“It seems to spread rapidly,” President Joe Biden said of the new variant, only a day after celebrating the resumption of Thanksgiving gatherings for millions of American families and the sense that normal life was coming back at least for the vaccinated. In announcing new travel restrictions, he told reporters, “I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious.”

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