Omicron threat remains high in East Europe
US,SOUTH KOREA, HONG KONG, INDONESIA: A new wave of infections from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is moving towards the East of Europe, the World Health Organisation said today, urging authorities to improve vaccination and other measures.
Over the past two weeks, cases of COVID-19 have more than doubled in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine, WHO’s Europe regional director Hans Kluge said in a statement.
Meanwhile, South Korea on Wednesday reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
The record count for on Tuesday marked a drastic surge from 57,177 a day before and brought total infections in the country since the pandemic began to 1,552,851, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
More than 86 per cent of South Korea’s 52 million population have been fully vaccinated and 58 per cent have received a booster shot, KDCA data showed.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Leader Carrie Lam said today there were no plans for a citywide lockdown in the global financial hub but “surrendering to the virus” was not an option as authorities battle a surge of Covid-19 infections.
Speaking at a weekly press briefing, Lam said she could not “preclude” the possibility of postponing the city’s chief executive election, due to be held in March. She has not said whether she will seek another term as head of the administration in the Chinese controlled city.
Around 84 per cent of the city’s 7.5 million residents have had at least one vaccine but a large proportion of the elderly have remained hesitant, despite a recent pickup.
Meanwhile, Indonesia reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The country confirmed 57,049 new infections, more than the previous record of about 56,700 set last July, when the delta variant overwhelmed hospitals on the main island of Java. Overall, Indonesia has reported more than 4.9 million infections and 145,455 deaths from COVID-19.
– THE MALAY MAIL,GULF TIMES