Omicron Variant: UK may be forced into Omicron lockdown as London declares 'major incident'

Four new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus were reported in Gujarat on Sunday, which took the state's count of the persons infected with this strain to eleven, officials said.

A 45-year-old NRI and a teenage boy who came from the UK, a Surat-based woman who had recently visited Dubai and a Tanzanian national are the new patients of the Omicron variant found in the state.

The NRI (non-resident Indian) had tested positive for the coronavirus infection in the RT-PCR test carried out at the Ahmedabad international airport soon after his arrival from the UK on December 15, a health department official said.

"The man's sample later confirmed that he was infected with the Omicron variant," Anand district health officer Dr M T Chhari said. He was scheduled to reach the state's Anand city from Ahmedabad. "But, after he tested positive for the coronavirus, he was taken to the Ahmedabad civil hospital from the airport. The patient is currently recovering at the Ahmedabad civil hospital,” Dr Chhari said.

Sri Lanka will require the showing of a COVID-19 vaccination certificate compulsory for entry to public places starting from January 1, in a renewed attempt to prevent another spike in infections. Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga made the announcement Sunday in an abrupt switch from the gradual ending of restrictions put into place after the country was confronted with a third wave of COVID-19 infections in April caused by the Delta variant.

Ranatunga said health officials were drawing up arrangements on implementing the decisions, according to a government statement.

Omicron Update - Maharashtra : As per the report given by National Institute of Virology today, 6 more patients have been found to be infected with Omicron in the state.

Out of these, 4 patients are from Mumbai Airport surveillance, 1 each from Pimpari Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area & Pune rural.

Till date, a total of 54 patients infected with Omicron virus have been reported in the state

Iran has confirmed its first case of Omicron Covid-19 variant, state TV reported on Sunday. The country has vaccinated around 60% of its population of approximately 85 million citizens with both doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the Associated Press.

Germany is tightening travel restrictions for people coming from Britain in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant there. The country's national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, added Britain to its list of “virus variant areas” late Saturday. This means anyone traveling from the U.K. to Germany must enter a mandatory quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status.

The new restrictions, which will go into effect at midnight Sunday, come as the U.K. reports a record high number of new coronavirus infections. On Saturday, the country saw 90,418 new cases.

The U.K. joins eight African countries, including South Africa, on Germany's list of “virus variant areas.” The Robert Koch Institute's announcement comes in the wake of tightened restrictions for other countries across Europe as the continent faces a fourth wave of infections.

Starting Sunday, France and Denmark are considered “high risk areas,” meaning those who are not vaccinated or recovered from the virus must quarantine for 10 days. Dozens of countries, including nearly all of Germany's direct neighbors, have now been added to this category.

Brexit minister, Lord David Frost, has resigned as the man in charge of overseeing matters related to Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) amid opposition to "coercive" lockdown restrictions due to a surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Lord Frost, who led the UK's negotiations over the EU Withdrawal Agreement and has carried on talks over the Northern Ireland Protocol that governs arrangements between EU member-state Ireland and UK’s Northern Ireland, handed in his letter of resignation to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday.

The letter reveals that a plan for him to leave the post in the New Year was already agreed between them but that was brought forward after the ‘Mail on Sunday’ reported on his exit.

“We agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage our future relationship with the EU. It is disappointing that this plan has become public this evening and in the circumstances I think it is right for me to write to step down with immediate effect,” reads Lord Frost’s resignation letter.

“Brexit is now secure. The challenge for the Government now is to deliver on the opportunities it gives us. You know my concerns about the current direction of travel. I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, lowtax, entrepreneurial economy, at the cutting edge of modern science and economic change,” he writes.

With reference to media reports of his opposition to the increasing lockdown curbs related to COVID-19, the letter adds: “We also need to learn to live with COVID and I know that is your instinct too. You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again.

“Sadly it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

The resignation adds to a building tide against Boris Johnson’s leadership at Downing Street, coming in the wake of nearly 100 parliamentarians rebelling against the government’s COVID Plan B in Parliament earlier this week.

(PTI)

Cyprus has imposed additional new restrictions on travellers from the UK after the latter country has reported a rapid spread of cases related to the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the Health Ministry in Nicosia said in a statement.

A 45-year-old NRI and a teenage boy, who recently arrived in Gujarat from the United Kingdom, have been found infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19, officials said on Sunday. With this, the total number of such cases in the state has gone up to nine.

Ladakh's tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 21,930 on Sunday with 27 fresh infections, officials said. While 15 new cases were detected in Leh, the rest 12 cases surfaced in Kargil district, they said.

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands have achieved 100 per cent double dose COVID vaccination of its target beneficiaries. The administration said it was the first among the states and Union territories to achieve the feat using only Covishield.

A couple and their 13-year-old daughter have tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus after returning to Satara in western Maharashtra from Uganda, officials said on Saturday. Their other daughter, who is five years old, tested positive for COVID-19 but not for the variant.

All four returned to Phaltan in Satara district from the African country on December 9, state health department officials said.

Delhi government is ready to tackle the Omicron variant of COVID, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. He advised people not to panic saying even though the variant was said to spread faster than the previous ones, its symptoms were mild.

Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi was unlikely to face another wave of infections, since according to the sero survey conducted by the Delhi government, 96 per cent of the state population was found to have antibodies and a majority of them were vaccinated.

The number of Omicron cases in Telangana rose to 20 with 12 more people testing positive for the new coronavirus variant on Saturday. Of the 12 new cases, two were passengers from countries declared "at risk" by the Centre, while 10 came from other nations, a state health department bulletin said.

The samples of three persons are awaited for their Omicron variant status.

The UK government is reportedly drawing up plans on Saturday for a short two-week circuit breaker lockdown later this month, after Christmas, to try and keep pace with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The meetings remain ongoing as London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in the UK capital as COVID infections surged and began impacting public services in the city. He confirmed that London remained the UK region with the largest number of COVID cases, with over 26,000 daily infections recorded on Friday.
 

Nations across Europe moved to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of COVID-19 infections spurred by the highly transmissible omicron variant, including a new nationwide lockdown introduced by the Dutch government.

Schools, universities, and all non-essential stores, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands will be closed until January 14 starting Sunday, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday night. Residents only will be permitted two visitors except for Christmas and New Year's, when four will be allowed, he said.