India has confirmed its first two cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the health ministry said, as regulators in the United Kingdom have given the green light for the use of a monoclonal therapy, called sotrovimab, to treat those at high risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Two men, a 66-year-old and a 46-year-old, had both tested positive for the variant in southern Karnataka state, top health official Luv Agarwal said in a briefing.
The news came as South Korea’s daily coronavirus case numbers rose to a new high with authorities halting quarantine exemptions for fully vaccinated inbound travelers for two weeks in a bid to fend off the new variant.
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South African scientists studying the Omicron outbreak believe symptoms are less severe for those re-infected by the new variant or infected after vaccination, a top scientist said. “So we believe, I think very much so, that the reinfections (of the)… disease will be less severe,” said Anne von Gottberg, microbiologist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
“And that’s what we’re trying to prove and to monitor very carefully in South Africa. And the same would hold for those that are vaccinated.” The US has announced a raft of new measures aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus and the Omicron variant, including requiring all international travellers to test negative for COVID-19 within a day of their departure.
The US had previously required vaccinated travellers to test negative within three days their departure. The measures, which President Joe Biden will officially announce in a speech on Thursday, also include an increased push for all US adults to receive booster shots, an extension of mask mandates on public transportation in the country, and a requirement for private health insurance providers to pay for out-home COVID-19 tests. (Aljazeera)
