The United States reported its first case of community transmission of Omicron and President Joe Biden, prepared to lay out his strategy to fight the coronavirus over the winter as the highly contagious variant spread across the globe. As the world tried to control the spread of Omicron, health authorities in the northern US state of Minnesota said the infected resident was a fully vaccinated adult male who had recently travelled to New York City.
A person told state health investigators he attended the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center from Nov. 19 to 21 and developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22.
We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is a community spread of the variant in our city, Bill de Blasio, New York City Mayor.
He said in a statement that we are working closely with the State and the CDC, as well as the Javits Center's event organizers, and our Test and Trace Corps will be contacting conference attendees. Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, told Reuters Next that the Omicron variant could slow global economic growth by exacerbating supply chain problems and depressing demand.
There is a lot of uncertainty, but it can cause serious problems. She said that is still evaluating. Germany will not allow people who are notvaccinated from all but essential businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while legislation to make vaccination mandatory will be drafted for early next year.
The situation is very serious, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference. A nationwide vaccine mandate could take effect from February 2022, after it is debated in the Bundestag and after guidance from Germany's Ethics Council, she said.
Germany kept businesses open to 69% of the population that is fully vaccinated as well as those with proof of having recovered from the virus in order to avoid a fragile recovery of Europe's biggest economy. Biden was to speak at the National Institutes of Health NIH in the United States at 1: 40 p.m. The deadline for travelers to wear masks was announced on 1840 GMT, and there will be an extension of the requirements for them through mid-March.
Private health insurance companies will have to reimburse customers for at-home COVID- 19 tests, as part of a winter strategy that Biden is due to announce at 1840 GMT. The president is going to unveil a very robust plan, pull out all the stops to prepare for the winter and prepare for the new variant, according to Jeff Zients, White House COVID -- 19 response coordinator, according to the White House's COVID- 19 response coordinator.
Much remains unknown about Omicron, which was first detected in southern Africa last month, and has been detected in at least two dozen countries, just as parts of Europe were already grappling with a wave of infections of the Delta variant.
The European Union's public health agency said that the variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID infections in Europe within a few months, lending weight to preliminary information about its high transmissibility.
In an interview for the Reuters Next conference, Rachel Levine, US Assistant Health Secretary, said that it would take about two more weeks to get more definitive information about the Omicron variant. She said travel restrictions could slow the spread and give authorities time to assess what further steps could be needed.
South Africa said that it was seeing an increase in COVID 19 reinfections in patients contracting Omicron with people who have already had the illness infected in a way that it did not see with other variants.
In the Netherlands, health authorities called for pre-flight COVID 19 tests for all travel from outside the European Union, after it turned out that most of the passengers who had tested positive after arriving on two flights from South Africa on November 26 had been vaccinated.
The first known US case, announced on Wednesday, was a fully vaccine-vaccinated person in California who had travelled to South Africa. Two French cases, in the greater Paris region and eastern France, were passengers arriving from Nigeria and South Africa.
The Interfax news agency said Russia has imposed a two-week quarantine for travellers from some African countries, including South Africa. Hong Kong extended a travel ban to more countries and Norway and reintroduced travel restrictions.
Amid all the new restrictions, Europe's largest budget airline, Ryanair, said it expected a challenging time at Christmas, although it was still optimistic about summer demand. In France, the country's top scientific adviser, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, said that the true enemy for now was still the more familiar Delta variant of the virus, spreading in a fifth wave.