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What you need to know about the omicron variant

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A new Covid-19 variant, now named the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1126-B11-529-omicron.html">omicron variant</a>, was detected in South Africa on Wednesday, prompting renewed concern about the pandemic, a major stock market drop, and the imposition of new international travel restrictions to stop the spread.
Though the variant’s existence was first reported by South Africa, it <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/11/27/1059501446/covid-coronavirus-omicron-variant">has also been found</a> in Belgium, Botswana, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom, meaning the variant has already spread — though how far is unclear, as new cases continue cropping up around the world.
While it will take scientists some weeks to understand the omicron variant, including how quickly it can spread and what the illness that results from infection looks like, the World Health Organization has already labeled omicron a “<a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern">variant of concern</a>,” <a href="https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/">meaning</a> it could be more transmissible, more virulent, or more able to evade the protection granted by vaccines than the original strain of Covid-19.
More information about the new variant is sure to emerge over the coming days and weeks, but here’s what experts are saying so far.
Early evidence suggests that the omicron variant is highly contagious, possibly more so than the delta variant. With <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/42c5ff3d-e676-4076-9b9f-7243a00cba5e">more than 30 mutations on the spike protein</a> — the part of the virus that binds to a human cell, infecting it — omicron could both be more transmissible and have more mechanisms to evade immunity already conferred by vaccines or prior infection.
So far, cases of the variant have appeared primarily in young people, leaving them exhausted and with body aches and soreness, according to Dr. Angelique Coetzee, head of the South African Medical Association. “We’re not talking about patients that might go straight to a hospital and be admitted,” she told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59442129">the BBC</a>.
Relative to its <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/south-africa/">pandemic peak</a>, cases in South Africa are relatively low right now. However, the country has still seen a substantial spike in new infections: On Friday, South Africa reported new 2,828 Covid-19 cases, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-science-health-lifestyle-83cad19ead1725137bd7c3a371792ab7">according to the Associated Press</a>, with as many as 90 percent of those cases potentially caused by the omicron variant.
Reinfection is also concern with the new variant, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w/">according to the journal Nature</a>, but at this early stage, it’s difficult to tell how likely reinfection or breakthrough infections actually are.
“The mutation profile gives us concern, but now we need to do the work to understand the significance of this variant and what it means for the response to the pandemic,” Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert at University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, said at a South African health ministry press conference on Thursday.
Whether the efficacy of treatments such as monoclonal antibodies — and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22772612/early-treatment-for-covid-fluvoxamine-molnupiravir-paxlovid">new pill treatments</a> from Pfizer and Merck — will be the same against the omicron variant is also unclear, as is the new variant’s virulence, or how sick it will make those infected, Dr. Leana Wen, a professor of public health at George Washington University, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1464615112816353322?s=20">told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Friday</a>.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
3 key Qs about new <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/covid19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#covid19</a> variants: 
1) Is it more contagious? 
2) Is it more virulent? 
3) Is there immune escape? 
Lots unanswered re Omicron, but the Biden admin had to act. Imagine the outcry if they did not institute a travel ban & this variant took hold in the US. <a href="https://twitter.com/Acosta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Acosta</a> <a href="https://t.co/EJvFQuhTR2">pic.twitter.com/EJvFQuhTR2</a>
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1464615112816353322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern">According to the WHO</a>, the earliest known case of the omicron variant was November 9, and the mutation was first detected November 24 in South Africa, which has an advanced detection system. While the delta variant is still the dominant strain worldwide and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/how-worried-should-we-be-about-omicron-variant-2021-11-27/">accounts for for 99.9 percent of cases in the US</a>, the discovery of the omicron variant has coincided with a spike in South African cases — a 1,124 percent increase over the past two weeks, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html">according to the New York Times</a>.
However, the variant has likely spread far more widely than South Africa, according to the US’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. “When you have a virus that’s showing this degree of transmissibility & you’re having travel-related cases...it almost invariably is going to go all over,” NBC reporter Kaitlan Collins <a href="https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1464607176744386564?s=20">tweeted Saturday</a>, quoting Fauci.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Fauci says the Omicron variant hasn't been detected in US but he wouldn't be surprised if it's already here. "When you have a virus that's showing this degree of transmissibility & you're having travel-related cases...it almost invariably is going to go all over,” he tells NBC.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) <a href="https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1464607176744386564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2021</a></blockquote>
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On Friday, President Joe Biden announced new travel restrictions <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/">on eight southern African countries</a>, which will take effect on Monday. Travel from Lesotho, South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, and Botswana will be restricted, though those restrictions won’t apply to US citizens or green card holders, among other groups.
<a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1464615112816353322?s=20">As Wen said on Friday</a>, travel bans don’t necessarily do much overall to prevent the spread of the virus, but they can buy time for governments to learn more about diseases and variants and better protect their populations.
“I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/11/26/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-gaggle-2/">Biden told reporters</a> on Friday. “But we don’t know a lot about the variant except that it is of great concern; it seems to spread rapidly.”
Other nations — the UK, Singapore, Israel, France, and Germany — are also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59442129">restricting travel</a> from southern African nations in an effort to contain the new variant, despite criticism from the South African government.
“This latest round of travel bans is akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker,” South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a <a href="http://www.dirco.gov.za/docs/2021/covid-19_1127.htm">Saturday statement</a>. “Excellent science should be applauded and not punished.”
As of Saturday the US has not imposed any new travel restrictions on the European or Asian nations where the omicron variant has appeared.
In addition to imminent travel restrictions on a number of southern African nations, Biden <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-new-variant-southern-africa-omicron-33fa0983af6c9f961a186f4f4bb1147d">urged vaccination and boosters</a> for US citizens as a response to the new variant.
To that end, Biden on Friday also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/26/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-omicron-covid-19-variant/">called on wealthy countries</a> with the capability to donate vaccines to do so to low- and middle-income countries, as well as to waive intellectual property rights on current vaccines and treatments so that poorer countries can produce generic versions.
Accessibility isn’t the only issue when it comes to a global vaccination campaign, however. Vaccine hesitancy has proven to be a global problem, including in South Africa, where last week the government asked drug companies to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-24/s-africa-wants-j-j-pfizer-vaccine-delivery-delay-news24-says">delay delivery of new vaccine doses</a> in response to declining demand, despite only 35 percent of its adult population being inoculated. Europe is presently struggling with a new outbreak at least partly due to its <s>this</s> uneven vaccine uptake and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/world/europe/covid-vaccine-germany-europe.html">vaccine resistance</a>.
Omicron is likely <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/how-worried-should-we-be-about-omicron-variant-2021-11-27/">already in the US</a>, given the loosened restrictions on international travel earlier in the month and the fact that the variant dates at least as far back as November 9. And even if it’s not yet, it soon will be, experts say.
“It’s not going to be possible to keep this infection out of the country,” Fauci told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/26/world/covid-vaccine-boosters-variant">New York Times</a>. “The question is: Can you slow it down?”
While there are still many unknowns about the omicron variant, experts agree that it’s a troubling development in the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen variants come and go, and every month or two we hear about one,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsHour/status/1464372531075469312?s=20">told PBS on Friday</a>. “This one is concerning. This one is different. There are a lot of features here that have me and many of us concerned about this.”
Delta, the current dominant strain of the virus, shows heightened transmissibility and an ability to evade antibodies, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547537/delta-coronavirus-variant-covid-19-vaccines-masks-lockdown">Vox’s Umair Irfan explained in June</a>. But as with delta, the key to limiting omicron’s spread depends upon human behavior and people’s willingness to engage with proven public health responses.
Stopping the spread also means stopping the possibility of harmful mutations to the virus. Mutations — changes to the makeup of the virus — are bound to happen, and many of them are harmless to people. The more opportunities the virus has to spread, however, the more chance it has to mutate into a variation that spreads faster, is more resistant to antibodies and treatments, or creates worse health outcomes — or even all of these negative traits.
Existing tools, however, should still be effective in stopping omicron — PCR tests appear to detect the variant, <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern">according to the WHO,</a> and Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/26/1059391761/dr-francis-collins-on-what-we-know-about-the-omicron-variant-so-far">told NPR on Friday</a> that “there is no data at the present time to indicate that the current vaccines would not work [against omicron].”
Additionally, masking and social distancing both are proven strategies to stop the spread of Covid-19, as are getting vaccinated and getting a booster shot.
Those steps are especially crucial as the holiday season and cold weather bring people together indoors, where transmission occurs. According to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">New York Times’ Covid-19</a> tracker, cases in the US have increased 10 percent over the past two weeks, with a daily average of 87,195 new cases, 52,279 hospitalizations, and 1,013 deaths. As of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html">November 24, almost 75 percent of vaccine-eligible Americans</a> have received at least one vaccine dose.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/11/27/22804556/omicron-variant-covid-19-south-africa-explained">https://www.vox.com/2021/11/27/22804556/omicron-variant-covid-19-south-africa-explained</a>

vox What you need to know about the omicron variant

A new Covid-19 variant, now named the omicron variant , was detected in South Africa on Wednesday, prompting renewed concern about the pand...

Singapore Tracking Omicron Covid Variant "Very Closely", Says PM: Report

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Singapore Tracking Omicron Covid Variant 'Very Closely', Says PM: Report" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-10/jft4ehog_singapore-_625x300_18_October_21.jpg" title="Singapore Tracking Omicron Covid Variant 'Very Closely', Says PM: Report" /></div>
Singapore will restrict entry to travellers with recent travel history to seven African countries. (File)
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Singapore:
Singapore is tracking the emerging Omicron COVID-19 variant "very closely" and could be forced to take a few steps back again before moving ahead with easing of safety measures and opening up the economy, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday declared Omicron "a variant of concern", putting it in the same category as the Delta variant that has caused waves of infection to sweep across the globe and forcing several European countries to re-enter lockdown.
The new variant is considered potentially more dangerous because it has around twice as many mutations as Delta, but experts say how much of a concern is still under investigation. Omicron, also called B.1.1.529, has also been detected in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong, and possibly in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Prime Minister Lee, in his address to the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) convention, said that right now, a new variant of concern is emerging.
"We've learnt a new word - the Omicron variant. We are tracking this very closely. We are not sure yet, but we may well be forced to take a few steps back, before we can take more steps forward."
"But despite all this, I am confident that we will find our way to living with the virus, and safely resume all the things we love to do. We are making all this effort because we want to get there safely, suffering as few casualties along the way as possible," Channel News Asia quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
PM Lee pointed out that Singapore has made "a lot of progress" in the fight against COVID-19, but must be prepared for more bumps along the way.
On Friday, Singapore also said it will restrict entry to travellers with recent travel history to seven African countries following the emergence of the new variant in that region.
All long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with travel history within the previous 14 days to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are not allowed to enter Singapore or transit here.
Lee also noted that COVID-19 has been a "searching test" of public trust, and this applies to countries all around the world.
"Some societies are high-trust, others are low-trust - and it makes all the difference in a crisis. Singapore is and must always be high-trust. That is the way to weather not just COVID-19, but any storm that comes our way," he said.
Lee gave the example of countries that have had great difficulty vaccinating their whole population, despite vaccines being available.
He pointed out that "political divisions and deep distrust" have made it harder for the US and many European countries to bring COVID-19 under control.
"Many of them are anti-vaxxers, not just because they are misguided or ignorant, but because of deep distrust, of authority in general, and of their own government in particular," he said, noting that Singapore is fortunate not to have such divisions in its society.
"We did not become a cohesive, trusting society overnight. Social cohesion is the work of decades. And trust has to be built up long before the crisis. When a crisis strikes, if the trust is not already there, then it is already too late.
"I am grateful that the PAP government enjoys the public's trust, built up over years of working closely with Singaporeans. We've been delivering faithfully on promises. Consistently producing results for the people - housing, healthcare, education, well-paying jobs, better lives. We have shown year in, year out, in good times and bad, in crisis after crisis, that the PAP government will always be there - with you, for you, for Singapore," the prime minister said.
During the COVID-19 crisis, the government needed to draw on this "reservoir of trust", as it faced many difficult and urgent decisions impacting lives and livelihoods, said Lee.
"Whatever we decide, however hard we try to get it right and to cushion the impact, more often than not some group or other will be affected or disappointed. Yet the government must exercise its judgment to the best of its ability, and carry Singaporeans along," he said.
Trust is important not just between Singaporeans and the leaders, but between each other too. And while rules and penalties are necessary, they are not enough, he explained.
"We must also trust our collective spirit as one people. Looking out for one another, supporting those in greater need, staying united in a crisis," the Channel had Lee as saying.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/singapore-tracking-omicron-covid-19-variant-very-closely-prime-minister-lee-hsien-loong-2627848">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/singapore-tracking-omicron-covid-19-variant-very-closely-prime-minister-lee-hsien-loong-2627848</a>

news world Singapore Tracking Omicron Covid Variant "Very Closely", Says PM: Report

Singapore will restrict entry to travellers with recent travel history to seven African countries. (File) Singapore: Singapore is track...

Australia Detects Two Cases Of New Covid Variant 'Omicron'

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Health officials in Australia said Sunday they had detected the Covid Omicron strain for the first time after testing two passengers from southern Africa who flew into Sydney.
The eastern state of New South Wales' health authority said it had conducted urgent genomic testing and confirmed the new strain was present in two passengers who landed in Sydney on Saturday.
Both passengers came from southern Africa and arrived in Australia on a Qatar Airways flight via Doha, NSW Health said in a statement.
They tested positive for Covid shortly after arriving, leading to an urgent analysis for possible infection by the heavily mutated Omicron strain.
"The two positive cases, who were asymptomatic, are in isolation in the special health accommodation. Both people are fully vaccinated," NSW Health said.
Another 12 passengers from southern Africa in the same flight did not test positive for Covid but have been placed in quarantine, it said.
About 260 passengers and crew on the plane have also been told to isolate, the health authority said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/australia-detects-two-cases-of-new-covid-variant-omicron-2627844">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/australia-detects-two-cases-of-new-covid-variant-omicron-2627844</a>

news world Australia Detects Two Cases Of New Covid Variant 'Omicron'

Health officials in Australia said Sunday they had detected the Covid Omicron strain for the first time after testing two passengers from...

World's Newest Republic: Barbados To Cut Ties With Queen Elizabeth

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Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley unveils the plaque at Golden Square Freedom Park
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Barbados is about to cut ties with the British monarchy, but the legacy of a sometimes brutal colonial past and the pandemic's impact on tourism pose major challenges for the Caribbean island as it becomes the world's newest republic.
Famed for its beaches and love of cricket, Barbados will this week replace its head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, with her current representative, Governor General Sandra Mason.
Ceremonies on Monday evening into Tuesday will include military parades and celebrations as Mason is inaugurated as president, with Prince Charles -- heir to the British throne -- looking on.
The dawn of a new era has fueled debate among the population of 285,000 over Britain's centuries of influence, including more than 200 years of slavery until 1834, and Barbados finally becoming independent in 1966.
"As a young girl, when I heard about the queen, I would be really excited," said Sharon Bellamy-Thompson, 50, a fish vendor in the capital Bridgetown who remembers being about eight and seeing the monarch on a visit.
"As I grow older and older, I started to wonder what this queen really means for me and for my nation. It didn't make any sense," she said. "Having a female Barbadian president will be great."
Colonialism and slavery
For young activists such as Firhaana Bulbulia, founder of the Barbados Muslim Association, British colonialism and slavery lie behind the island's modern inequalities.
"The wealth gap, the ability to own land, and even access to loans from banks all have a lot to do with structures built out of being ruled by Britain," Bulbulia, 26, said.
"The actual chains (of slavery) were broken and we no longer wore them, but the mental chains continue to persist in our mindsets."
In October, Barbados elected Mason to become its first president, one year after Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared that the country would "fully" leave its colonial past.
But some Barbadians argue there are more pressing national issues, including economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has exposed overreliance on tourism -- which, ironically, is dependent on British visitors.
Eerie calm in usually bustling Bridgetown, paltry numbers at popular tourist spots and a dead nightlife scene all point to a country struggling after years of relative prosperity.
Unemployment is at nearly 16 percent, up from nine percent in recent years, despite sharply increased government borrowing to fund public sector projects and create jobs.
The country has just eased a longstanding Covid curfew, pushing it back from 9:00 pm to midnight.
Opposition leader Bishop Joseph Atherley said this week's celebrations among dignitaries would largely not be accessible to ordinary people.
"I just don't think we are doing ourselves a credit and a just service by having this when people are being admonished to sit in the comfort of your home and watch on a screen," Atherley said.
"Increasing numbers of Covid cases, an increasing sense of stress and fear -- I just don't think that it is the right time."
'Stand on our own feet'
Some criticism has also focused on Mottley inviting Prince Charles to be the guest of honor, and to award him the Order of Freedom of Barbados, the highest national honor.
"The British royal family is a source of exploitation in this region and, as yet, they have not offered a formal apology or any kind of repair for past harms," said Kristina Hinds, international relations lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.
"So I don't see how someone from the family can be given this award. That is beyond me."
Buoyed by Black Lives Matter movements across the world, local activists last year successfully advocated for the removal of a statue of the British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson that stood in National Heroes Square for two centuries.
And the end of the queen's reign is seen by some as a necessary step towards financial reparations to address the historic consequences of the use of slaves brought from Africa to work on sugar plantations.
For many Barbadians, replacing the British queen is just catching up with how the nation has felt for many years.
"I think it's a very good thing we're doing, becoming a republic, because we were independent 55 years now and it's time enough that we stand on our own feet," said Derry Bailey, 33, owner of a beach chair and water sports rental business.
"I expect that things will be better under this system. It makes no sense being independent and answering to the crown. So I really believe that being a republic is the way to go."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/barbados-to-become-republic-after-over-300-years-under-british-monarchy-2627737">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/barbados-to-become-republic-after-over-300-years-under-british-monarchy-2627737</a>

news world World's Newest Republic: Barbados To Cut Ties With Queen Elizabeth

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley unveils the plaque at Golden Square Freedom Park Barbados is about to cut ties with the British...

The Week That Covid Sucker Punched the World

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="The Week That Covid Sucker Punched the World" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-11/gcodf2j8_covid-bloomberg-650_625x300_28_November_21.jpg" title="The Week That Covid Sucker Punched the World" /></div>
The World Health Organization classified B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern
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On Monday morning, Austria's near-9 million residents woke to life in lockdown. Days later, a new Covid-19 variant set off alarm bells across the world, Europe and the U.S. slapped a travel ban on countries in Southern Africa and health officials raced to get ahead of a new threat.
It was the week the coronavirus reminded the world that the pandemic is far from over, delivering a combination punch of escalating infections, restrictions and a new mutation. The developments, marking a setback in the battle against the disease and a dent to the economic recovery, slammed equities and oil prices.
Governments went to the tried and tested virus-fighting tools in their playbook as cases in Europe spiked.
Germany tightened restrictions for the unvaccinated, France toughened rules on mask wearing and health passes, and Austria closed businesses from hotels to gyms. Belgium ordered nightclubs to close, and banned the public from indoor sporting events.
The U.K. ruled out tightening pandemic rules, but was quick to halt flights from six countries once news of the variant - B.1.1.529 - emerged. The European Union proposed the same measure as several of its member states went ahead and restricted travel.
For London, it was a case of once bitten, having learned the price of dithering when it was slow to react to the delta variant, which has half as many mutations as B.1.1.529. Travel bans may be unpopular in some quarters, but it's easier than hitting a weary public at home with lockdowns and other curbs on socializing.
There's a sense that this script has become depressingly familiar after almost two years - but that familiarity also leavens the sense of panic that's greeted the arrival of previous variants.
Across Europe, peoples' reaction to the recent news was far more muted than in the early months of the disease, a shift from fear, even panic, to resignation. This is the Covid world. The foreseeable future will bring rises and falls in infections, variants, intensive care needs and deaths - as well as the accompanying litany of measures from masks to tests, partial or full lockdowns, travel limits and booster vaccines.
In Italy for example, the first European country to impose a nationwide lockdown in early 2020, gone are the days when people disinfected the supermarket shopping before it entered their homes, and the daily toll of cases and fatalities monopolized attention.
Back then, Italians watched aghast as army trucks were called into the northern town of Bergamo to ferry coffins away because the crematorium could no longer cope.
A few days ago, even as the country's daily infections were rising at the fastest pace in six months, the mood was far different. At a bar in a trendy area near Rome's main railway station, a group of locals celebrated a 50th birthday with freshly-baked pizza and wine.
No one wore masks as the party-goers milled about. Only a couple of the guests remarked afterward that staff had failed to check vaccination certificates, as required by law.
"As long as there are no further government directives related to the new variant, people will keep on living their lives as usual," said Simone Schnall, professor of experimental social psychology at the University of Cambridge. "There's currently a mix of emotions that also includes frustration or anger... Many people just won't be able to stomach the prospect of yet another largely compromised Christmas."
BioNTech SE, which has developed one of the most widely used Covid vaccines with Pfizer Inc., offered another reason to not panic. It expects data on how the variant interacts with its shot within two weeks. A new version could be ready in 100 days.
And more protection against the disease is coming - at some point - in the form of anti-viral pills.
Covid "moved into the human population through a biological accident," said Sarah Pitt, a virologist at the University of Brighton. "I don't think we should be trying to 'live with' it or accept that it will become endemic. I think we should be trying to eliminate it as far as that is feasible in an interconnected world."
If the vaccines still offer a chance of that, it wasn't what markets heard on Friday.
They reacted to the variant body blow with a sell-off. European stocks fell the most since June 2020, the Dow Jones dropped more than 1,000 points at one stage and oil tumbled through $70 a barrel in New York for the first time since September. U.S. Treasuries jumped, sending yields down the most in a year.
For aviation and other travel-dependent segments, the spread of a new variant threatens a return to the disruption caused by delta's rise earlier in the year, when it delayed a rebound in flying at the start of the northern hemisphere's summer high season. Investors are worried that a third summer may be put at risk if people hold back from making plans early in 2022.
But health experts say it's going to take time to know what the variant means for the global virus battle. In the meantime, UBS AG economist Paul Donovan noted that fear of the virus is what causes the most economic damage.
"We need to get used to the fact that there will be large numbers of variants appearing globally over the coming months and years," said John Bell, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, who's been working with the U.K. on its Covid response. "Stay calm, track the data, understand this particular pathogen and respond. We will need to do this again and again in the future."
As the week drew to a close, another taste of deja vu loomed. The World Health Organization classified B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern and called it omicron.
Yet another Greek letter to add to the long-running Covid conversation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world The Week That Covid Sucker Punched the World

The World Health Organization classified B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern On Monday morning, Austria's near-9 million residents wok...

New Zealand Politician Cycles To Hospital In Labour, Gives Birth

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="New Zealand Politician Cycles To Hospital In Labour, Gives Birth" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-11/vg5ineqo_julie-anne-genter-cycle_625x300_28_November_21.jpg" title="New Zealand Politician Cycles To Hospital In Labour, Gives Birth" /></div>
Julie Anne Genter posted the update on her Facebook page
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New Zealand Member of Parliament Julie Anne Genter got on her bicycle early on Sunday and headed to the hospital. She was already in labour and she gave birth an hour later.
"Big news!" the Greens politician posted on her Facebook page a few hours later. "At 3.04am this morning we welcomed the newest member of our family. I genuinely wasn't planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening."
The island nation of 5 million already has a reputation for down-to-earth politicians. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern famously took maternity leave while in office and brought her three-month old to a United Nations meeting as she was still breastfeeding.
"My contractions weren't that bad when we left at 2am to go to the hospital - though they were 2-3 min apart and picking up in intensity by the time we arrived 10 minutes later," Genter wrote.
"Amazingly now we have a healthy, happy little one sleeping, as is her dad," said Genter, a dual New Zealand-U.S. citizen who was born in Minnesota and moved to the Pacific country in 2006.
Genter - her party's spokesperson for transport issues and whose Facebook profile includes "I love my bicycle" - also biked to the hospital in 2018 to give birth to her first-born, local media said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world New Zealand Politician Cycles To Hospital In Labour, Gives Birth

Julie Anne Genter posted the update on her Facebook page New Zealand Member of Parliament Julie Anne Genter got on her bicycle early on ...