UK scientists have now warned two doses of a Covid vaccine are not enough to ward off the Omicron variant, however, a third booster dose significantly increases protection to about 75 per cent.The UK is racing to contain the spread of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant as Scottish PM Nicola Sturgeon sounded the alarm.According to The Sun, an emergency “Cobra” (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) meeting was convened in Downing Street on Friday, local time, amid dire warnings that Omicron will trigger a “tsunami of infections”.Top UK Minister Michael Gove, Nicola Sturgeon and other leaders gathered in the afternoon to thrash out an urgent Covid battle plan as No. 10 scrambled to stave off a winter surge and begged Brits to get their boosters.It came after the Scottish First Minister tightened rules to stem the spread of the mutation ripping across Britain – blowing a hole in hopes of a normal Christmas.In a grim warning she said: “To be blunt, because of the much greater and faster transmissibility of this new variant, we may be facing – indeed we may be starting to experience – a potential tsunami of infections.”Previously, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his government’s Christmas party and tightened restrictions with Plan B, including requesting employees work from home where possible, requiring face masks be worn in cinemas and theatres, and a vaccine passport or negative Covid test required for all indoor venues and large outdoor events such as music festivals and sports events.The UK as a whole has had more than 10 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 146,000 people have died from the virus, one of the highest tolls in Europe.Professor Neil Ferguson, a mathematical epidemiologist from Imperial College London, told The Guardian the UK was already experiencing a wave of infections which could lead to “quite an explosive wave of hospitalisations”.“Unfortunately, most of the projections we have right now are that the Omicron wave could very substantially overwhelm the NHS, getting up to peak levels of admissions of 10,000 people per day,” he said.CASES SURGE IN NORTH AMERICAThe epidemic also surged in the United States and Canada, where the number of cases increased by almost a quarter. The US remained by far the country with the biggest number of new cases, with 120,800 per day, an increase of 24 per cent.As of Thursday, the US averaged 121,084 new Covid-19 cases per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, which is 62 per cent higher than a month ago.More than half of new hospitalisations over the past month have been in Midwestern states, especially Michigan and Ohio.The state of Michigan has had more patients hospitalised for Covid-19 than ever before, with an 88 per cent jump in the past month, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.“We have more patients than we’ve ever had at any point, and we’re seeing more people die at a rate we’ve never seen die before,” Jim Dover, president and CEO of Sparrow Health System told CNN.“Since January, we’ve had about 289 deaths; 75 per cent are unvaccinated people,” Dover said. “And the very few (vaccinated people) who passed away all were more than 6 months out from their shot. So we’ve not had a single person who has had a booster shot die from Covid.”US President Joe Biden faces pushback from his own party over his vaccine mandate, despite the support of scientists and the rising cases in the US.Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered indoor public places statewide — such as restaurants and shops — to require that staff and customers either show proof of vaccination or wear masks as officials try to staunch a slew of coronavirus outbreaks hitting upstate hard.The new mandate will remain in force until 15 January, when it could be extended, officials said.“I have to protect people but also the economy. I want to make sure that the little businesses that were hurt so hard during the pandemic in a shutdown — resulting in their loss of income, [and] the loss of income of all the people who work for them,” said Hochul according to the New York Post. “We have to prevent that from happening.”The rules mirror regulations already in effect in New York, which require that eateries, bars and entertainment venues check patrons for proof of vaccination before being admitted indoors.WORLD ‘NOT PREPARED’ FOR ANOTHER PANDEMICThe Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security have released their second Global Health Security Index this week which found that despite huge investments in Covid responses, not a single country is prepared for another biological threat like a virus. The report is meant to be a “guidepost,” said contributor Anita Cicero in a Global Health NOW Exclusive, and ranks countries across categories like detection, overall health system, and political risks. The US scored lowest in the world for “public confidence in government” a key factor in a nation’s ability to respond to bio threats.The US also scored poorly for financial barriers to health care and fewer hospital beds per capita than other peer countriesIn stark contrast, New Zealand used the 2019 Index as a resource for their Covid-19 response plan which “really saved us,” a top health adviser said. Overall, however, the report found that Covid-19 responses around the world have been largely temporary and lack long-term support.PANDEMIC SPIRALS IN AFRICAThe Covid-19 pandemic continued its advance around the world this week, led by southern Africa where the highly contagious Omicron strain was first reported.Cases rocketed more than sevenfold in Zimbabwe, as Africa saw infections more than double by 113 per cent.In Zimbabwe, cases soared by 646 per cent despite tough restrictions, while South Africa (up 195 per cent) saw by far the biggest rises in the number of cases.South Africa will next month start giving Pfizer booster shots, with the first people to qualify being the over-60.Experts are working to determine whether current Covid vaccines will work against the new highly-mutated variant, which was discovered by South African scientists last month.The daily number of new Covid infections surged to a high of 22,391 on Thursday, when nearly 30 per cent of tests were positive.The highest daily tally so far was in early July, when the country hit more 26,000 new infections.Health practitioners last month had already started being offered Johnson & Johnson shots as boosters.South Africa is the worst-hit country in the continent for coronavirus, recording a cumulative 3.09 million cases, of which over 90,000 have been fatal.A small study this week by the country’s African Health Research Institute, not yet peer reviewed, suggested that Omicron may be able to evade some of the antibody immunity from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.Omicron accounts for around 70 per cent of new infections being detected in South Africa, Health Minister Joe Phaahla has said.However, hospitalised patients are so far showing mild symptoms, he said.
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