Australia's new pandemic high: 47,799 COVID infections

SYDNEY - Australia's COVID-19 cases touched a fresh pandemic high on Tuesday amid an Omicron surge in its two most populous states as hospitalizations in New South Wales state, home to Sydney, surpassed the record numbers hit during the Delta outbreak.

People admitted in New South Wales hospitals rose to 1,344, a new pandemic peak, topping the 1,266 reached last September during the Delta wave. Numbers have more than doubled in a week, straining the health system.

A record 47,799 infections have been reported in Australia so far on Tuesday, eclipsing its previous high of 37,212 a day earlier. Four new deaths were registered.

Despite the record spike in infections fueled by the Omicron strain, dual-dose vaccination levels of nearly 92% in people above 16 have helped Australia to keep the death rate lower than the previous virus outbreaks.

Authorities do not specify the coronavirus variant that caused the deaths, although New South Wales officials said 74% of patients in the state's intensive care units since Dec. 16 were infected with the Delta variant.

Australia is also battling a shortage of rapid antigen tests, delays with PCR results and the abrupt closures of a number of testing sites, with pathology laboratories swamped by a backlog of tests. Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out the government covering the cost for people to test themselves for COVID-19.

"The problem at the moment is that the lack of (rapid antigen tests) is completely hampering personal responsibility and it is a frustration that is a glaring hole in the current management of COVID," Chris Moy, vice president of the Australian Medical Association, told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

Australia's competition regulator said it would set up a team to look into complaints about allegations of price gouging for the at-home rapid antigen tests.

The record spike in infections and hospitalizations have come as 2 million more Australians became eligible for their COVID-19 booster shots from Tuesday after authorities shortened the wait time between second and third shots to four months.

Just over 2.5 million Australians have so far received their booster shot, which health officials are betting may prevent more hospitalizations and deaths.

Australia on Tuesday crossed half a million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with nearly 50% reported in the last two weeks. Still, the country's 547,160 cases and 2,270 deaths are lower than numbers seen in many comparable countries.

(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Sandra Maler and Michael Perry)

-reuters

Omicron panic pummels equities, oil

NEW YORK - Global equity and oil markets slumped Monday on investor panic over the impact of worldwide measures to contain the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, dealers said.

Asia tanked due to concerns over a fresh global surge in coronavirus infections, sparking a fierce renewed selloff in Europe, while Wall Street indices also closed lower.

Oil tumbled as traders fretted over how the latest Covid-19 strain might hit the world's appetite for energy, which has already suffered a heavy blow since the pandemic erupted early last year.

In New York, sentiment was jarred by a crucial moderate Democratic senator's announcement that he would not support President Joe Biden's social spending bill, imperiling the measure that some analysts view as a positive for US growth.

"It does not feel like the most wonderful time of the year for Wall Street," Oanda's Edward Moya said in a note.

OMICRON PANIC MODE

The British pound fell sharply after the surprise weekend departure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit minister David Frost.

"After battling endless headwinds in recent weeks, markets have finally been knocked over as the rapid spread of Omicron finally reaches panic mode," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Meanwhile, the EU's drug regulator approved a fifth Covid jab as the United States warned of a bleak winter with the Omicron variant spurring new waves of infections globally.

Since it was first reported in South Africa in November, Omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, prompting many to reimpose travel restrictions and other measures.

The Netherlands imposed a Christmas lockdown, and Germany tightened restrictions notably affecting the unvaccinated, while media speculation swirls over the re-imposition of tougher UK curbs.

STOLEN CHRISTMAS?

The rapid spread of Omicron has also slammed the oil market and travel stocks, since a return to containment measures and travel curbs would hit the aviation and tourism industries as well as dampen demand for fuel.

"There is some de-risking in the face of headline news that has market participants thinking the Omicron Grinch might steal Christmas after all," said analyst Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com.

With traders beginning to wind down ahead of the festive season, analysts said trade was thinner and markets more susceptible to swings, but the mood has become increasingly glum as central banks start paring their huge financial support to fight inflation.

World markets had briefly risen last week after other major central banks took action to combat soaring inflation, even as spiking Covid-19 cases threaten the fragile economic recovery.

The Bank of England delivered the first interest rate hike in three years, while the Federal Reserve said it would speed up the taper of its bond-buying program and indicated three interest rate hikes before the end of 2022.

Dealers were unmoved Monday by news that China had trimmed a key interest rate by five basis points as it looks to reignite the stuttering economy.

Meanwhile, in Chile, the Santiago stock market plunged almost seven percent at the opening bell after leftist Gabriel Boric decisively won the presidential election, with the Chilean peso also taking a beating.

Agence France-Presse

Omicron coronavirus cases surge in UK, scientists see bigger wave

LONDON - Britain reported a surge in cases of the omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday which government advisors said could be just the tip of the iceberg, and London's mayor declared a "major incident" to help the city's hospitals cope.

The number of omicron cases recorded across the country hit almost 25,000 as of 1800 GMT on Friday, up by more than 10,000 cases from 24 hours earlier, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

Seven people believed to have had the omicron variant had died as of Thursday, up from one death in the UKHSA's previous data which ran up to Tuesday. Admissions to hospital of people thought to have the variant increased to 85 from 65.

The government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said it was "almost certain" that hundreds of thousands of people were being infected with the variant every day and were not being picked up in the figures.

SAGE said without a further tightening of COVID-19 rules, "modelling indicates a peak of at least 3,000 hospital admissions per day in England," they said in minutes of a meeting on Dec. 16.

Last January, before Britain's vaccination campaign gathered speed, daily hospital admissions in the United Kingdom as a whole surged above 4,000.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced a rebellion in his governing Conservative Party over some of the measures he has taken so far to try to curb COVID-19's latest spread. A newspaper said on Saturday that Johnson's Brexit minister, David Frost, had resigned in part because of the new rules.

The advisors said it was too early to assess the severity of disease caused by omicron but if there was a modest reduction compared to the Delta variant, "very high numbers of infections would still lead to significant pressure on hospitals".

London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" - which allows for closer coordination between public agencies and possibly more central government support - as COVID-19 hospital admissions in the city rose by nearly 30% this week.

He said health worker absences had also increased.

"This is a statement of how serious things are," he said.

Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, also declared a major incident in January, when rising COVID-19 cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals.

The omicron variant is estimated to account for more than 80% of new COVID-19 cases in London, officials said on Friday.

Emergency meeting

Johnson was due to chair an emergency committee meeting over the weekend with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own powers over public health.

A report in The Times newspaper said officials were preparing draft rules which, if introduced, would ban indoor mixing in England -- except for work -- for two weeks after Christmas when pubs and restaurants would be limited to outdoor table service.

People would be able to meet in groups of up to six outdoors, the newspaper said, adding that ministers were yet to formally consider the plans.

Johnson said on Friday "we are not closing things down".

A government spokesperson said the government would continue to "look closely at all the emerging data and we'll keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant".

The number of all new COVID-19 cases reported in official data fell to 90,418 from a record high of more than 93,000 on Friday, but that was still the country's second-highest daily toll. Figures typically dip at the weekend.

Cases were up 44.4% over the seven days to Dec. 18 compared with the previous week.

Police clashed with a group of protesters opposed to the latest COVID-19 restrictions near Johnson's Downing Street office and residence on Saturday. A number of officers were injured but so far no arrests had been made, police said. (Editing by Helen Popper, Timothy Heritage and Catherine Evans)

-reuters

Coronavirus spreads in Australia's pubs; Omicron cases linked to party boat

SYDNEY - COVID-19 infections have been spreading in pubs and clubs in Australia's biggest city, including three new cases of the Omicron variant found among people who went on a harbor party cruise, sending officials rushing to trace contacts.

Authorities have been easing restrictions in Sydney since early October when the city emerged from a nearly four-month lockdown to contain the Delta coronavirus variant after the population reached higher vaccination levels.

"We have seen recently increased transmission in larger social venues ... and that is certainly a contributing factor to the increase in cases," Marianne Gale, New South Wales Deputy Chief Health Officer, said in a video posted on Twitter.

Dozens of people who attended a Sydney pub quiz tested positive for the coronavirus and officials are awaiting the results of genomic tests to see if they are infected with the Omicron variant.

Daily COVID-19 infections have been steadily rising as restrictions have eased with New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, logging 420 new cases on Thursday, its biggest rise in about two months, with most caused by the Delta variant.

But the number of Omicron infections has been creeping up since Australia reported its first case about two weeks ago.

Some 50 cases have now been detected including the three linked to the Sydney party boat.

The variant is potentially more contagious than previous ones although initial signs point to a more mild illness. None of the 151 people in hospital in New South Wales for COVID-19 are infected with the Omicron variant.

Australia has fared much better than many countries in containing the pandemic, with nearly 224,000 cases and 2,082 deaths, mostly due to its decision to close borders in March 2020.

But border closures have cut off the flow of skilled migrants causing a sharp slowdown in population growth, prompting businesses to bemoan the lack of workers.

The trend has been worsened by a long-running fall in fertility rates, which hit a record low last year, official data out on Wednesday showed.

-reuters