Category Archives: Corona Virus

A daycare in Tolland is closed through Jan. 10 after someone in one of their classrooms tested positive for COVID-19.

Several staff members at the Tolland Kids Academy Child Center were directly exposed to the individual and need to quarantine for 10 days as a result, owner Lori Jackman said.

Someone within the two-year-old classroom tested positive for the virus over the weekend.

"With having to quarantine this many staff, it will be impossible for us to remain open this week and still maintain state ratios," Jackman said.

Jackman said exposed staff and children have to quarantine for 10 days.

The childcare center is recommending anyone who was in the two-year-old classrooms last week get COVID-19 tested.

"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes and we appreciate your understanding," Jackman said.

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Tolland Daycare Closed For the Week After Positive COVID-19 Case, Staff Quarantine - NBC Connecticut

Citing a near-record-high surge of COVID-19 patients across its four suburban hospitals, Main Line Health announced Sunday that it will pause all elective surgeries and procedures for the next two weeks to ensure theres staffing and room to accommodate its rapidly rising caseload.

Jonathan Stallkamp, chief medical officer for Main Line Health, said COVID-19 cases have increased exponentially ever since Thanksgiving and the health system which includes Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Paoli Hospital, and Riddle Hospital is approaching its high, which was nearly 300 cases set in December 2020.

Were not the only ones, either, Stallkamp said. Every other health system in the area is either at or approaching their high, as well.

Although Main Line Health doesnt test for variants, a vast majority of its COVID-19 cases are believed to be the omicron variant, Stallkamp said. The contagious nature of the variant coupled with in-person holiday gatherings is a driving factor in the surge of cases, he said.

Before, where you would take precautions and see a little bit of spread, its nothing like the spread of omicron, Stallkamp said. And it really hit Philly right before Christmas.

The majority of COVID-19 patients at Main Line Health, about 70%, remain unvaccinated, he said.

We do see some breakthrough cases but people are definitely not as sick as they would be if they werent vaccinated, Stallkamp said.

Looking at the projections, Stallkamp said Main Line Health will most likely exceed its record number of COVID-19 patients this month. And with some vaccinated staffers forced to call out with breakthrough cases and winter being a normally high-volume time anyway, the decision was made to postpone elective surgeries to make more room for patients and the beds and staff needed to cover them.

Its the worst to cancel on a patient the night before their surgery, Stallkamp said. Looking at our numbers, we said we need to do this now to be fair to our patients and staff and be ready for any additional cases of COVID that hit us.

While such surgeries as knee and hip replacements are on hold, other procedures, such as those for broken arms and coronary bypasses, remain ongoing, according to Stallkamp.

Main Line Health, which has also updated its visitor policy on its website, will continue to monitor case numbers and reassess the situation in two weeks. Stallkamp said hes hopeful that elective surgeries and procedures will be resumed quickly.

Its a little dj vu, per se, but Im optimistic that this may be the last big hurrah of it, and I think a lot of people are going to get it and maybe not realize they get it because theyre vaccinated, he said. And at that point, I think well have developed pretty decent herd immunity and be back to normal in springtime.

It was unclear whether any other area hospitals or health systems were considering halting elective surgeries and procedures, but at least one, Penn Medicine, has placed stricter guidelines on its masking requirement as a result of the rise in COVID-19 cases.

As of Jan. 3, visitors to Penn Medicine must wear surgical masks, N95 masks, or KN95 masks. Cloth masks, gaiters, bandanas, masks with exhalation valves, gas masks, and face shields (unless for medical reasons) are not permitted.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, where more schools are deciding to go virtual because of the rising tide of COVID-19 cases, the states first lady, Tammy Murphy, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.

According to officials, Murphy, who is vaccinated and received a booster, is asymptomatic. Her family members, including Gov. Phil Murphy, have tested negative.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.

Originally posted here:

Main Line Health pauses elective surgeries and procedures amid a surge in COVID-19 cases - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Baring Asia affiliate Sion owns most of the company and the 34-35% dilution is from their side. It helps the company open up a much broader canvas for growth and that is where all of our new shareholders, the public shareholders will enjoy the companys potential and future," says Rajiv Kaul, Exec Vice Chairman & CEO, Whole time Director, CMS Info Systems.

How do you see the ownership post the IPO, a complete OFS. How do things change? What does the listing help you with?It has been a very difficult year for all of us but it is a year which has humbled us and we are also filled with pride that we have been able to launch an IPO successfully and complete it and also listed on the last day of the year. It is a complete offer for sale (OFS) from our shareholders Baring Asia through their affiliate Sion, which is our promoter. Our company has been profitable for 12 years. We have had cash on the balance sheet and therefore the company does not need capital infusion for growth.

We have been growing very well. Baring Asia through their affiliate Sion, owns most of the company and the 34-35% dilution is from their side. It helps the company open up a much broader canvas for growth and that is where all of our new shareholders, the public shareholders will enjoy the companys potential and future.

What is the market share you are enjoying in the key services that you provide and who are your key customers?We are focussed on the BFSI sector. We are a large B2B outsourcing services company and as India grows over the coming decade. not only will consumption increase but business outsourcing will also increase. We have focussed on working with all the banks in the country. We have a variety of services at a foundational level. Our strongest, oldest business is a very robust network that we have set up for making sure that currency is available anywhere anytime in the country from the largest cities to the remotest parts of the country. It is our cash management business. This is a business where we have a coverage of 15,000 pin codes, a fleet of 4,000 vans and we do almost a million to a million and a half activities every month.

Using this business, we have expanded from being a logistics company into technology solutions. In technology solutions, we have two businesses. We are a key player in the entire ATM managed services space which includes everything from deploying the ATM to managing it to maintaining it to running the software on the ATM. We have a massive order book in that business.

What is the impact seen from PayTM, Google Pay, BHIM and various other apps?India is largely an informal economy. As that economy formalises, that formalisation will have many forms. But if you think of the retail sector, there are lots of small retail shops. We cannot even cater to them. We cannot even work with them. But as they formalise into large established organised retail stores, there will be massive amounts of work. The money in circulation has grown from Rs 14 lakh crore to almost Rs 30 lakh crore. In any large store, you see lines of people wanting to pay in cash.

As a society we are comfortable using cash. I see more digital transactions happening. We are clearly seeing the effects of demonetisation. However, my belief is that a large part of semi-urban and rural India is still looking for bank access, for ATM access. Those modes of commerce will increase and as the formalisation happens, the opportunity for CMS is fantastic because we can hope to reap the rewards when a informal business moves to the formal sector.

What is the growth you see for ATM services? Where do you see this geographical and state wise growth for this?The total addressable market (TAM) for us is about Rs 8,000 crore. It is forecast to go to Rs 21,000 crore by 2027, and that is almost a 2.7x increase which would lead to 17-18% growth in the market. As a market leader, we would hope to aspire to grow at that level or even higher if we can. That is at the high macro level for the industry.

India has got 2.5 lakh ATMs. The semi urban and rural markets are growing more than the metro markets but the metros are also growing. Penetration is not a geographical issue, I think it is a state by state issue. We have penetration in states like Delhi and then Tamil Nadu where there are 35 or 40 ATMs for one lakh people while in large parts of India like Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the penetration levels will be 7 or 10 or 12 or 14.

From a 10-year perspective, as these states do better in per capita GDP income increase, consumption will increase, people will have more commerce, they will use both cash and digital. They will use more ATM services and that will lead to growth of ATM transactions and hopefully the number of ATMs.

But ATM cash management is part of our business but not the only business. We do a lot of work around the value chain whether it is the software or the deployment or how to keep the site up and running. During Covid, most of us did not have any issue in accessing cash from an ATM because most of us were not going to bank branches but keeping that whole infrastructure running on behalf of the banks is something which CMS and our other industry collaborators do very well for the nation.

What about client mix, new on-boarding of customers? How will the services be expanded?We work with every bank in India. There are a limited number of banks we work with. As more banks are getting licences, we will get more customers.

But when I think of retail, on behalf of banking customers, we work with more than 2,000 retail customers in the country. They could be retail stores, NBFCs, insurance companies and a variety of retail outlets where we work and serve them for the cash management and technology needs.

The remote monitoring business is the latest one that we are starting by launching it for the BFSI sector. There is a massive opportunity for automating and using software to much better manage and monitor and control an ATM site or a gold loan branch or a bank branch. But it is software, it is a SaS play. Once you build this, there is nothing stopping us from being able to go and sell this to jewellery stores, to solar parks, to warehouses, to logistics. So, this is a very exciting business for us where we feel there is opportunity to make it horizontal outside BFSI and get hundreds of new customers over the next five to six years.

More here:

CMS Info is a key player in ATM managed services space & has a massive order book: CEO - Economic Times

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Application of large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic system for voltage stability improvement of weak national grids | Scientific Reports -...

The United States began requiring international travelers on Monday to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken no more than a day before their flights. The move, intended to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, is causing headaches for many passengers.

Previously, fully vaccinated travelers could provide proof of a negative test taken within 72 hours of departure. The new requirement may be difficult for some to satisfy, because it can take more than a day to receive test results.

The new rules have some travelers wondering if they can stick to their planned itineraries. They are one more hurdle to clear for Americans who are living outside the United States and for foreigners hoping to visit for Christmas and New Years. From London to Taipei, travelers have been thinking about the scenarios that could emerge on a trip, like what would happen if a flight is canceled or if the traveler tests positive along the way.

August Dichter, 24, said on Monday that he had already spent two to three hours trying to figure out how to meet the testing requirement for his scheduled flight on Thursday to Philadelphia from London. Mr. Dichter, an American who just completed a yearlong masters degree program in Wales, said he had gotten conflicting messages from the airline, with some guidelines describing the new requirement and others still saying he had a 72-hour window.

Mr. Dichter said he had been looking forward to traveling around Europe during his studies, but that it had not been easy.

Its been a lot of hoops to jump through, and I know that Im going to be able to jump through them all, he said. But they seem to just keep being so tedious, and to add up, and make the arrival of coming home feel just a little further away.

Another American, Candace Thomas, and her partner, James Ridgers, flew to London from Los Angeles last week for a funeral and said that keeping up with the rule changes has been difficult.

Its been very confusing, said Ms. Thomas, 36, as she and Mr. Ridgers, 43, waited in a long line at St. Pancras train station in London on Monday to get tested before their flight on Tuesday.

Im confused right now, actually, Mr. Ridgers said, because the couple did not have an appointment at the St. Pancras testing center and were unsure if they needed one. They found out soon after that they could not get tested as walk-ins, and made an appointment for three hours later.

The start to their trip was complicated, too. They arrived before Britains two-day quarantine requirement came into effect and ended up quarantining unnecessarily for a day because they were unsure whether the requirement applied to them. New rules also required a P.C.R. test, so they spent more than 80 British pounds ($106) each on tests for Day 2 of their trip.

Every morning, it was waking up to tune in to the news to find out if it had changed or if we were going to need to quarantine for longer, or if we were even going to be able to come home, Ms. Thomas said. It was really touch-and-go there for a little while.

More than a dozen countries around the world, including the United States, have gone a step beyond testing requirements and have barred travelers who have recently been in any of eight southern African countries. Health experts have criticized that policy and have urged caution, because so little is known yet about the Omicron variant, which was first detected and sequenced less than two weeks ago in South Africa.

Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tried to add some perspective on Sunday on the ABC News program This Week.

What we dont yet know is how transmissible it will be, how well our vaccines will work, whether it will lead to more severe disease, Dr. Walensky said.

The stricter testing requirement for inbound travelers took effect just as airline travel was experiencing a rebound. The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the busiest travel day at U.S. airports since February 2020, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

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Travelers to U.S. Now Must Test Negative for Covid a Day Before Flying - The New York Times

JOHANNESBURG The Covid-19 virus is spreading faster than ever in South Africa, the countrys president said Monday, an indication of how the new Omicron variant is driving the pandemic, but there are early indications that Omicron may cause less serious illness than other forms of the virus.

Researchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick than those they have treated before, and that other hospitals are seeing the same trends. In fact, they said, most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms.

But scientists cautioned against placing too much stock in either the potential good news of less severity, or bad news like early evidence that prior coronavirus infection offers little immunity to Omicron. The variant was discovered just last month, and more study is needed before experts can say much about it with confidence. Beyond that, the true impact of the coronavirus is not always felt immediately, with hospitalizations and deaths often lagging considerably behind initial outbreaks.

Dr. Emily S. Gurley, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said of the signs that the variant is less severe, It would not be shocking if thats true, but Im not sure we can conclude that yet.

In the absence of more hard information, governments have reacted to Omicron with sharp restrictions on international travel and new vaccination requirements. World leaders who were accused of responding too slowly or weakly earlier in the pandemic are eager to be seen as taking action, though some experts question whether the travel restrictions are an overreaction.

The variant has spread rapidly and has been detected in more than 30 countries on six continents so far. Health officials and researchers say that it could be the most contagious form of the virus yet, and that it could soon displace the Delta variant that emerged last year as the predominant form. That has fueled fears that a world eager to emerge from two years of pandemic hardship could be headed into another cycle of illness, lockdown and economic suffering.

In Europe, as in South Africa, there are early indications that Omicron cases may be fairly mild, if easy to contract.

In Britain, the government said Monday that the number of Omicron cases there had climbed to 336, two and a half times as many as on Friday. Denmark reported 261 cases, quadruple the number on Friday, and local media there have reported that a holiday lunch for high school students may have been a superspreader event, with dozens of people catching the new variant.

Britain and Denmark do an unusually large amount of genomic sequencing of virus samples, to tell one variant from another and detect changes, which suggests that many Omicron cases in other countries are simply going undetected.

On Monday, the United States began requiring international travelers arriving in the country to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken no more than 24 hours before their flights, a standard that can be hard to meet. Previously, fully vaccinated travelers could show negative test results taken up to 72 hours before departure.

China, a major part of the global travel and tourism economy, announced that to maintain its zero-Covid approach, it would keep international flights at 2.2 percent of pre-Covid levels during the winter. Since August, it has almost entirely stopped issuing new passports, and it requires arriving travelers to quarantine for 14 days and provide extensive paperwork and multiple virus tests.

In South Africa, where scientists say Omicron is already dominant, the pandemic is surging once again. A month ago, South Africa had fewer than 300 new virus cases a day; on Friday and again on Saturday, the figure was more than 16,000. It fell somewhat on Sunday and Monday, but that may be due a reporting lag often seen on weekends.

As the country heads into a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, we are experiencing a rate of infections that we have not seen since the pandemic started, President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in an open letter to the country. He added: Nearly a quarter of all Covid-19 tests now come back positive. Compare this to two weeks ago, when the proportion of positive tests was sitting at around 2 percent.

A report released this weekend from doctors at the Steve Biko Academic and Tshwane District Hospital Complex in Pretoria, South Africas administrative capital, offers the strongest support yet for a more hopeful take on Omicron, though its author, Dr. Fareed Abdullah, gave reasons to be wary of drawing conclusions.

Dec. 7, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

Dr. Abdullah, director of the Office of H.I.V./Aids and Tuberculosis Research at the South African Medical Research Council, looked at the 42 patients with coronavirus who were in the hospital last Thursday, and found that 29 of them, 70 percent, were breathing ordinary air. Of the 13 using supplemental oxygen, four had it for reasons unrelated to Covid.

Only one of the 42 was in intensive care, in line with figures released last week by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, showing that only 106 patients were in intensive care over the prior two weeks, despite the surge in infections.

Most of the patients were admitted for diagnoses unrelated to Covid-19, the report said, and their infection is an incidental finding in these patients and is largely driven by hospital policy requiring testing of all patients. It said that two other large hospitals in Gauteng Province, which includes Pretoria and Johannesburg, had even lower percentages of infected patients needing oxygen.

Dr. Abdullah said in an interview that he had walked into a Covid ward and found a scene unrecognizable from previous phases of the pandemic, when it would have been full of the humming and beeping of oxygen machines.

Out of 17 patients, four were on oxygen, he said. Thats not in a Covid ward for me, thats like a normal ward.

Dr. Gurley, of Johns Hopkins, noted that the severity of disease reflects not just the variant but also who it is infecting. Two years into the pandemic, far more people have some level of immunity to the virus through vaccination, natural infection, or both, and that could translate to milder cases.

We dont know how to read the genetic sequences to say exactly how this variant will play out, she said. Were getting more information now from South Africa, which is a particular population with a particular profile of pre-existing immunity.

Dr. Maria D. van Kerkhove, the World Health Organizations technical lead for Covid, told CBS News on Sunday, that even if it turns out that a lower percentage of Omicron cases are serious, that could be balanced by a larger number of cases, meaning more hospitalizations and deaths.

Dr. Abdullah also looked at all 166 patients with the coronavirus who were admitted to the Biko-Tshwane complex between Nov. 14 and Nov. 29, and found that their average hospital stay was just 2.8 days, and fewer than 7 percent died. Over the previous 18 months, the average stay for such patients was 8.5 days, and 17 percent died. Shorter stays would mean less strain on hospitals.

Eighty percent of the 166 patients were under age 50, and similar figures have been reported throughout Gauteng a sharp contrast to earlier cohorts of hospitalized Covid patients, who were usually older. That could result from South Africa having a relatively high vaccination rate in people over 50 and a low rate in younger people, but one of the great unknowns about Omicron is whether existing vaccines offer strong protection against it.

Part of the caution in interpreting Dr. Abdullahs report is that the numbers in it are small, the findings have not been peer-reviewed, and he does not know how many of the patients had Omicron, as opposed to other variants of the coronavirus though the government reported last week that it already accounted for three-quarters of virus samples in South Africa.

Dr. Abdullah acknowledged those drawbacks, and noted there could be a lag between Omicron first turning up and a rise in serious illness and deaths. But so far, despite the huge increase in cases, Covid deaths have not risen in South Africa.

Lynsey Chutel reported from Johannesburg, and Richard Prez-Pea and Emily Anthes from New York. Reporting was contributed by Megan Specia, Isabella Kwai, Sui-Lee Wee, Juston Jones and Jenny Gross.

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Early Omicron Reports Say Illness May Be Less Severe - The New York Times

The omicron variant of the coronavirus has arrived in Texas, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a tweet on Monday night. A 40-year-old woman in Harris County with no recent travel history tested positive for the variant, Hidalgo said.

The woman is fully vaccinated and experienced COVID-19 symptoms, according to the Harris County Public Health Department.She has not required hospitalization.

The fact that the patient did not have a travel history means she picked it up in the community. So its here, it has been here probably for a week or two, said Catherine Troisi, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Genetic sequencing tests this week showed that the womans recent COVID-19 case was the omicron variant, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed.

Dr. John Hellerstedt, a DSHS commissioner, said the variants arrival in Texas was unsurprising. Its normal for viruses to mutate, and given how quickly omicron spread in southern Africa, were not surprised that it showed up here, Hellerstedt said.

Getting vaccinated and continuing to use prevention strategies, including wearing a mask when you are around people you dont live with, social distancing, handwashing and getting tested when you have symptoms, will help slow the spread of the virus and help end the pandemic, he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. The Republican governor has refused so far to mandate any protective measures against COVID-19 and has forbidden state or local government entities from imposing their own mandates.

As of Monday, almost 65% of the Texas population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 55% have been fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is well below the national average of 71% receiving at least one dose and 60% being fully vaccinated.

Troisi said theres no reason to panic. We need to protect ourselves, and we have ways of doing that, she said. She expects other large Texas cities will see their own cases soon, although the variant will likely take longer to spread to rural communities.

Dr. Philip Huang, director and health authority for Dallas County Health and Human Services, encouraged residents to get vaccinated and to receive their COVID-19 booster shots. He said residents should continue following coronavirus-related precautions, including social distancing, washing hands and wearing face coverings.

Huang urged people to consider family members who are at high risk for severe symptoms of COVID-19 before traveling for the holidays. We continue to work with the state to monitor for omicron and we also continue to get vaccinations out to the community and promote prevention messages to do everything we can to try to slow the spread of the virus, he said.

The omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, appears to have more than 30 mutations in the coronavirus spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people.

Last Wednesday, the White House announced that a person in California who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 became the first in the U.S. to have an identified case of the omicron variant. Scientists continue to study the risks posed by the new virus strain. As of Monday, omicron has been detected in 19 U.S. states, including New York, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, told reporters that the person in California was a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive Nov. 29. Fauci said the person had been vaccinated but had not received a booster shot and was experiencing mild symptoms.

Its still unclear whether the genetic changes in the new variant will pose a public health threat. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially alarmed scientists but didnt end up spreading very far.

Fauci told Biden it would take about two more weeks before there was more information on the transmissibility, severity and other characteristics of the variant, but said he believed vaccines would continue to provide a degree of protection, The Washington Post reported.

Since being first detected, the variant has appeared in virus samples around the world. Cases have been identified in more than 40 countries, including Australia, Botswana, Britain, Belgium, Botswana, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands, according to The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Associated Press.

Cecilia Tomori, director of global public health and community health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, said Americans should first be worried about the continued spread of the delta variant. Delta has become the dominant variant in the U.S., accounting for more than 99% of all new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We are not adequately concerned by how bad our current surge is, Tomori said. We havent been adequately concerned about where weve been, which is a very high case number per day and a very high number of hospitalizations and deaths for a very, very long time.

She said she hopes concern over the omicron variant will push people to use strategies to prevent coronavirus transmission, like getting vaccinated.

Biden kicked off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get COVID-19 booster shots Thursday as he unveiled his winter plans for combating the coronavirus and its omicron variant with enhanced availability of shots and vaccines but without major new restrictions, the AP reported.

The plan includes requiring private insurers to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests and tightening testing requirements for people entering the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status. But as some other nations close their borders or reimpose lockdowns, officials said Biden was not moving to impose additional restrictions beyond his recommendation that Americans wear masks indoors in public settings, the AP reported.

As of Monday, all travelers to the U.S., regardless of nationality or vaccination status, will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day of boarding their flights. Thats down from three days right now for those who have been vaccinated, in an added precaution against the omicron variant. But the White House has shelved tougher options, like requiring post-arrival testing or requiring quarantines upon arrival in the U.S., the AP reported.

The New York Times reports that, in the U.S., omicron has been detected in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, according to reporting by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Associated Press.

The variant has been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as in travelers to Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Reunion, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, according to The New York Times. Omicron cases have also been reported in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, India, Israel, Norway, Portugal and Spain.

The omicron variant appears to have more than 30 mutations in the coronavirus spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people, the Associated Press reported.

Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain at the University of Cambridge, said the data so far suggest the new variant has mutations consistent with enhanced transmissibility, but said that the significance of many of the mutations is still not known.

Even though some of the genetic changes in the new variant appear worrying, its still unclear whether they will pose a public health threat. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially alarmed scientists but didnt end up spreading very far.

The variant was identified last week by researchers in South Africa. Much is still not known about it, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or more able to evade the protection of vaccines, the Associated Press reported.

On Friday, scientists in South Africa said that omicron appears to spread more than twice as quickly as delta, which had been considered the most contagious version of the virus, The New York Times reported. Omicrons rapid spread results from a combination of contagiousness and an ability to evade the bodys immune defenses, the researchers said, but the contribution of each factor is not yet certain. The research has not been appeared in a scientific journal or been peer-reviewed.

Fauci told Biden it would take about two more weeks before there was more information on the transmissibility, severity and other characteristics of the variant, but said he believed vaccines would continue to provide a degree of protection, The Washington Post reported.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said that there is no data yet that suggests the new variant causes more serious illness than previous COVID-19 variants, the AP reported.

I do think its more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa. It has the earmarks, therefore, of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another... What we dont know is whether it can compete with the delta variant, Collins said recently on CNNs State of the Union.

Collins said everyone should redouble their efforts to use the tools the world already has, including vaccinations, booster shots and measures such as mask-wearing, the AP reported.

Collins said that vaccination remains the first line of defense, saying that there are good reasons to believe, based on previous variants, that current vaccines will provide sufficient protection, The New York Times reported.

Please, Americans, if youre one of those folks whos sort of waiting to see, this would be a great time to sign up, get your booster, Collins said recently on Fox. Or if you havent been vaccinated already, get started.

While some experts say that early signs indicate that the omicron variant may cause only mild illness, its too early to assume that the variant will not cause severe illness, too, Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases specialist in South Africa, told The New York Times. Many of the early infections in South Africa were identified among younger people more likely to experience mild illness, he said.

CNN is maintaining a list of travel restrictions by country during the omicron variant outbreak, although it cautions that governments can change their regulations at a moments notice.

The European Union is restricting travel to and from seven countries in southern Africa Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe while the U.S. and South Korea have targeted those countries and Malawi, according to The New York Times. Britain has restricted travel with those eight nations and Angola and Zambia. Israel announced it was sealing its borders to all foreigners for 14 days after one case was confirmed in the country.

Many countries are introducing such bans, though they go against the advice of the World Health Organization, which has warned against any overreaction before the variant is thoroughly studied, the AP reported.

South Africas government responded angrily to the travel bans, which it said are akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker. It said it will try to persuade countries that imposed them to reconsider, the AP reported.

Some experts said the variants emergence illustrated how rich countries hoarding of vaccines threatens to prolong the pandemic, the AP reported.

Fewer than 6% of people in Africa have been fully immunized against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and vulnerable populations have yet to receive a single dose, the AP reported. Those conditions can speed up spread of the virus, offering more opportunities for it to evolve into a dangerous variant.

This is one of the consequences of the inequity in vaccine rollouts and why the grabbing of surplus vaccines by richer countries will inevitably rebound on us all at some point, said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britains University of Southampton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The omicron variant of the coronavirus is now in Texas - The Dallas Morning News

Oregon posted a 50% increase in weekly coronavirus cases Monday, with the spike largely tied to a resurgence in testing following the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Oregon Health Authority recorded 6,435 cases in the past week, including 2,041 announced Monday for the preceding three days.

The jump in weekly cases corresponds with a roughly 44% increase in weekly testing. Both cases and tests plummeted during the Thanksgiving week, making the rapid climb less concerning, particularly given a continued decline in test positivity rates.

Oregon has seen weekly cases drop in 12 of the past 14 weeks, with no consecutive weeks of gains since August. Officials are expected to keep watch of any potential reversal in long-term trends, either from renewed spread of the delta variant or the new omicron variant, which has yet to be discovered in Oregon.

State health officials on Monday also announced 25 deaths.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (7), Benton (69), Clackamas (214), Clatsop (18), Columbia (32), Coos (41), Crook (9), Curry (3), Deschutes (190), Douglas (84), Harney (4), Hood River (8), Jackson (111), Jefferson (17), Josephine (77), Klamath (11), Lake (7), Lane (132), Lincoln (20), Linn (115), Malheur (3), Marion (127), Morrow (6), Multnomah (351), Polk (22), Tillamook (18), Umatilla (11), Union (7), Wasco (11), Washington (276), Wheeler (2) and Yamhill (38).

Who died: State officials did not immediately disclose death details.

Hospitalizations: 418 people with confirmed COVID-19 infections are hospitalized, up 21 since Friday. That includes 115 people in intensive care, up 21 since Friday.

Vaccines: 10,214 people have been reported newly vaccinated since Friday.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 396,501 confirmed or presumed infections and 5,268 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 6,227,271 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,691,521 people and partially vaccinating 277,039 people.

To see more data and trends, visit https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

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Coronavirus in Oregon: Weekly cases climb 50% as testing rebounds from holiday - oregonlive.com

We continue to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona and share updates on any developments. This is the update for the week of Dec. 6, 2021.

ARIZONA, USA The number of coronavirus cases in Arizona is on the rise once again. We continue to track updates on any developments regarding COVID-19.

Heres a breakdown of the case numbers for the week of Dec. 6 and other updates on the coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Daily update on COVID-19 cases in Arizona

Each day, we will post the updated numbers for daily coronavirus cases and other important metrics in this section. Please check this article for updates throughout the week.

Here are the coronavirus case and death updates in Arizona for the week of Dec. 6:

Mon., Dec. 6:3,022 new cases, 0 new deaths and 1,295,076 total cases

COVID-19 vaccine updates

Here are a few recent stories on the developments regarding coronavirus vaccinations.

Coronavirus in Arizona news

Weve curated the latest news surrounding the COVID-19 cases in Arizona and compiled important information for our readers. Here are a few headlines.

MORE:Visit 12news.com/coronavirus for the latest updates.

Health Department Resources

Click on the links below to find more information from each county's health department:

You can find even more coverage of the coronavirus in Arizona on 12news.com/coronavirus, 12news.com/vaccine and the 12 News app.

COVID-19 News and Updates

Subscribe to the 12 News YouTube channel to receive notifications on the latest videos about the latest information on the coronavirus.

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Coronavirus in Arizona: COVID-19 cases for the week of Dec. 6 - 12news.com KPNX

Catalina Dengel verifies patient information with testing specialist Wendy Carrio at the new Capstone Clinic COVID-19 drive-thru testing site at 4810 C Street on Dec. 1, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Alaska on Monday reported 558 COVID-19 cases for a three-day period over the weekend and no deaths as the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus rose slightly.

The state reported 198 new cases for Sunday, 51 for Saturday, and 309 for Friday, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. State officials said they didnt know of any data backlogs that would account for such a low number on Saturday.

The state on Monday reported 77 people hospitalized statewide with active infections, up from 71 patients at the end of last week. Just over 8% of all hospital patients in the state are COVID-positive. Those numbers dont include some people recovering from the disease who need continued care.

Those numbers represent a significant decrease from the high of more than 200 people hospitalized on average in September and October.

The states test positivity rate, which reflects the number of positive tests out of the total performed, was 4.84% as of Friday, dropping under 5% for the first time since July, when a surge linked to the delta variant started. That 5% threshold can indicate high transmission and not enough testing, epidemiologists say.

By Friday, Alaska ranked 29th among states for its seven-day COVID-19 case rate, with 255.1 cases per 100,000 people. New cases declined about 25% since last week.

Alaska health officials continue to monitor for the new omicron variant of the coronavirus thats raising questions and concerns around the world, state health officials say. Omicron has been detected in numerous states but not yet in Alaska.

State health officials at a briefing late last week encouraged Alaskans who want to protect themselves against the omicron variant to get vaccinated or get booster shots against COVID-19 and practice the same measures -- masking, social distancing, good hygiene -- known to help prevent the spread of existing variants.

About 62% of Alaskans 5 and older have received one dose of the shot while 56% are considered fully vaccinated. Alaska currently ranks in the bottom third of the nation at 32nd for its vaccination rate.

Between mid-January and the end of November, people who werent fully vaccinated accounted for 70% of all COVID-19 cases, 84% of hospitalizations and 81% of deaths among Alaskans 12 and older, according to state data.

Starting Monday, the state health department shifted to updating COVID-19 dashboards three times weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

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Alaska reports 558 COVID-19 cases, no deaths and an uptick in hospitalizations over the weekend - Anchorage Daily News