The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Wednesday warned of the growing number of COVID-19 cases caused by the highly infectious BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus even as overall cases dipped in the Americas.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
- Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
- Adapted versions of established mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that address two variants in one shot will soon offer people better protection than vaccines that are now available, a European health official said.
- Long-haul travel is back among Danes and even more popular than before the pandemic, as pent-up wanderlust increasingly drives them to venture outside Europe's borders, Scandinavia's largest insurer Tryg said.
AMERICAS
- US President Joe Biden will seek to reduce direct contact, such as shaking hands, during his visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week as part of enhanced COVID-19 precautions, White House officials said.
- Ontario, Canada's most populous province, said that it would offer a second COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to everyone aged 18 and older from Thursday.
- The White House on Tuesday urged Americans over age 50 to get vaccination boosters against COVID-19 as the fast-spreading Omicron BA.5 subvariant takes hold across the US.
ASIA-PACIFIC
- Anxiety levels rose along with temperatures in Shanghai on Wednesday, as medical workers sweated beneath their hazmat suits while administering compulsory mass testing for COVID-19 in a city that recently emerged from a painful two-month lockdown.
- Daily COVID-19 infections in South Korea have jumped above 40,000 for the first time in two months, with the government warning of a potential five-fold surge in the coming months.
- Australian athletes will be banned from supporting their team mates at other Commonwealth Games events at Birmingham due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission, team chef de mission Petria Thomas said.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
- OPEC expects global oil demand to rise in 2023 but at a slower pace than 2022, the producer group said in its first forecast for next year, citing still robust economic growth and progress in containing COVID-19 in China.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
- AstraZeneca said on Wednesday a review of real-world data showed its COVID-19 vaccine provided equally effective protection against hospitalisation and death after two doses as with current mRNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna.
- The World Health Organization said COVID-19 remains a global emergency, nearly 2-1/2 years after it was first declared.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
- Lufthansa is cancelling an additional 2,000 flights from Frankfurt and Munich this summer, the German flagship carrier said on Wednesday, citing staffing shortages at airports as well as industrial action and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Reuters
