(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 778,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.3% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 30, 10:53 am
FDA says it’s working quickly as possible to evaluate omicron
The FDA in a new statement said it’s working as quickly as possible to evaluate the potential impact of omicron on the currently available diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
“Historically, the work to obtain the genetic information and patient samples for variants and then perform the testing needed to evaluate their impact takes time,’ the FDA said. “However, we expect the vast majority of this work to be completed in the coming weeks.”
The FDA stressed that vaccines, boosters and masks are the best ways to stay protected.
-ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss
Nov 30, 9:53 am
Passengers arriving in US from South Africa sent home with testing kits
The CDC said passengers who arrived in the U.S. from Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday — before travel restrictions took effect — were offered free at-home PCR testing kits.
Passengers were told to wait three to five days before collecting a sample that they could then mail back for testing. It’s not clear how many have done so or if any were positive.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Nov 30, 8:52 am
Global case count of omicron variant tops 200
More than 200 confirmed cases of the omicron variant, first identified in Southern Africa, have been reported in over a dozen countries around the world, according to an open-source tracker run by Newsnodes and BNO News.
The tracker shows South Africa has the highest tally by far, with 114 confirmed cases, followed by 19 in Botswana; 14 in The Netherlands; 13 in Portugal; 11 in the United Kingdom; five in Australia; five in Germany; five in Canada; five in Hong Kong; four in Italy; two in Israel; two in Denmark; one in the French island territory of Reunion; one in Austria; one in Sweden; one in Belgium; one in Czech Republic; and one in Spain.
So far, no cases have been confirmed in the United States.
Nov 30, 8:46 am
‘The virus is not tired of us,’ NIH director warns
Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is urging Americans to be vigilant in the wake of a new variant of the novel coronavirus that is sweeping the globe.
The World Health Organization has designated omicron as a “variant of concern.” But so much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it causes severe disease and if it is more contagious than delta, which is currently the dominant variant in the United States.
“We’re collecting that information as rapidly as we can, and much credit to our colleagues in South Africa who have been totally transparent about this. We only learned about this one week ago from one of their sequencers,” Collins told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview Tuesday on Good Morning America.
“So we are quickly trying to figure out in South Africa, is this in fact more contagious than other variants? It does look like it’s spreading quite quickly there,” he added. “But we don’t know how that would play out in a country like ours, where delta is already so dominant. Would omicron be able to compete with delta? We don’t know the answer to that.”
Another big question, Collins said, is whether the current COVID-19 vaccines and boosters will provide protection against omicron as they have against previous variants. The answers will “take a couple of weeks” to uncover, he said.
In the meantime, Collins encouraged all Americans to get vaccinated and boosted if eligible, and to wear face masks.
“I wear my mask if I’m indoors with other people — I don’t always know if they’re all vaccinated or not. That’s just good practice,” he said. “I know we’re all tired of this, but the virus is not tired of us and it’s continuing to exploit those opportunities where we’re careless.”
Nov 30, 7:22 am
Omicron variant was in the Netherlands earlier than thought
Dutch health authorities announced Tuesday that they have detected omicron in two previously tested samples, dating back as much as 11 days, indicating that the new variant was already circulating in western Europe before it was first identified in southern Africa.
The Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said it discovered omicron in samples dated Nov. 19 and Nov. 23, preceding the cases found among people traveling from South Africa to the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on Nov. 26.
“It is not yet clear whether these people had also visited southern Africa,” the institute said in a statement Tuesday.
Out of 624 passengers returning from South Africa who were tested for COVID-19 at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on Nov. 26, 61 tested positive, including 14 with the omicron variant.
“Laboratory tests identified several different strains of the omicron variant,” the institute said. “This means that the people were very probably infected independently from each other, from different sources and in different locations.”
The omicron variant was first reported to World Health Organization from South Africa on Nov. 24.
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden unveiled the White House holiday decorations on Monday and announced her theme for the 2021 season as “Gifts from the Heart,” intended to honor those who have preserved through hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The things we hold sacred unite us and transcend distance, time, and even the constraints of a pandemic: faith, family, and friendship; a love of the arts, learning, and nature; gratitude, service, and community; unity and peace. These are the gifts that tie together the heart strings of our lives. These are the Gifts from the Heart,” the Bidens wrote in a letter explaining the theme for a commemorative White House Holiday Guide.
“As we celebrate our first holiday season in the White House, we are inspired by the Americans we have met across the country, time and again reminding us that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite,” the first lady and president said. “We wish you a happy, healthy, and joyous holiday season. As we look to a new year full of possibility, may gifts from the heart light our path forward.”
It took approximately 25 wreaths, 41 Christmas trees, 300 candles, 6,000 feet of ribbon, 10,000 ornaments and nearly 80,000-holiday lights to spruce up the White House for the holiday season. More than 100 volunteers worked on the decorations, according to the office of the first lady. While volunteers in the past have come from around the country, they were limited to surrounding areas this year due to the COVID-19 concerns.
Officials said the theme is represented in every room “with sort of an element of another theme, a sub-theme, if you will.”
Inside the Blue Room, which represents the “Gift of Peace and Unity,” stands the official White House Christmas tree. The room’s iconic chandelier was temporarily removed to display the 18.5-foot Fraser fir from Jefferson, North Carolina, which the first lady welcomed last week.
“Cascading down the tree, peace doves carry a shimmering banner embossed with the names of each state and territory of the United States, reminding us all of the importance of unity and national harmony,” the White House said.
Photos of the Trumps, Obamas, both Bushes, Reagans and Carters also hang on the tree, in addition to pictures of the Bidens, their kids, grandkids and dogs, Champ and Major.
Inside the State Dining Room, Christmas stockings hang above the fireplace mantel for each of the Biden grandchildren, marked with their names.
The Gingerbread White House, which the White House said was “inspired by our gratitude and admiration for our Nation’s frontline workers who kept our country running through the global pandemic, often at great risk to themselves and their families,” honors nurses, doctors, postal and grocery store workers, to name a few, and is complete with a gingerbread school teacher, illustrative of the first lady who is a longtime community college professor, smiling and standing next to a gingerbread schoolhouse.
Also on display is the Bidens’ Christmas card, signed “Joe” and “Jill,” which includes a remembrance for those who lost their lives this year to COVID-19.
A drawing of a candle on the back of the card includes the words, “In remembrance of all Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19 and in recognition of essential and frontline workers, first responders, and our service members and their families.”
As she did when she welcomed the White House Christmas tree last week, the first lady was joined again Monday afternoon by the National Guard family — the Harrells — to honor those spending the holiday season apart.
To that end, a Gold Star Tree honoring service members who have died in the line of duty, as well as their families who carry on their legacies, is on display at the East landing.
The first lady hosted a second-grade class from an elementary school in Maryland to help her unveil the decorations on Monday.
The kids sported masks and wrist bands to indicate they have been COVID-19 tested, and the first lady read her 2012 children’s book, “Don’t Forget, God Bless our Troops.” PBS Kids held a holiday puppet show to mark the festive occasion, and the children appeared starstruck at a performance by the Kraft Brothers.
She also thanked volunteers who decorated the home for the holidays in brief remarks.
“When the pandemic keeps us apart — like I know how tough this year has been really struggling to get by — or we feel like the weight of our lives is just too heavy to carry, these constants remind us that they feel us and lift our eyes to the future,” she said of the theme.
“For all of our differences, we are united by what really matters like points on a star we come together at the heart. That is what I wanted to reflect in our White House this year,” Biden added, blowing a kiss to the volunteers.
Earlier, inside the East Wing, the president’s own U.S. Marine Corps band played an assortment of holiday tunes amid an assortment of large, red packages.
The planning for holiday decorations started in late May, and the first lady was “very involved” in the process, according to her communications director Elizabeth Alexander.
Social secretary Carlos Elizondo said the White House didn’t have too many problems with the supply chain, “but there were some items that were backed up,” like some of the topiaries, he said.
With public tours on pause due to the pandemic, the White House said to stay tuned for interactive ways to view the decorations on social media and other platforms.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 776,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 29, 4:15 pm
CDC strengthens booster recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday strengthened its recommendation on booster doses for adults.
The previous recommendation was that all adults 50 and older should get a booster, and those 18 to 49 may want to get boosters. Now, the CDC says all adults should get a booster shot six months after their Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or two months after the Johnson & Johnson shot.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said, “I strongly encourage the 47 million adults who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible and to vaccinate the children and teens in their families as well because strong immunity will likely prevent serious illness.”
A 51-year-old man in Spain who traveled from South Africa on Nov. 28 has become Spain’s first confirmed case of the omicron variant, according to the health ministry.
The man has mild symptoms and is under quarantine.
Sweden has identified its first omicron case, also a person who recently visited southern Africa, the Swedish Public Health Authority said.
A vaccinated 60-year-old woman has become the first confirmed omicron case in the Czech Republic, officials said. She visited Namibia in southwest Africa via South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Eight people who traveled with the infected woman were contact traced and are now quarantined, officials said.
These countries also have confirmed omicron cases: Canada (2); the United Kingdom (11); Italy (1); Belgium (1); the Netherlands (13); Germany (3); Denmark (2); Portugal (13); Israel (1); Australia (5); Hong Kong (3); Botswana (19); and South Africa (exact number not clear).
Nov 29, 1:40 pm
Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin leading nation in case rate
Experts say the steady surge of infections is expected to only intensify in the weeks to come, after millions of Americans traveled and gathered over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Nationally, hospitalization numbers have ticked up to about 53,000, according to federal data. After nearly 10 weeks of steady declines, this marks the third consecutive week that the U.S. has seen an increase in hospitalizations.
Older populations are bearing the brunt of this latest surge, with Americans 65 and older accounting for more than 41% of current hospitalizations.
Minnesota and Michigan currently hold the nation’s highest case rate, followed by Wisconsin, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to federal data.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 29, 12:56 pm
Dr. Ashton: Omicron ‘absolutely’ in US
ABC News’ chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said Monday that she “absolutely” believes omicron is already circulating in the U.S.
“When you hear the virus has been detected in so many countries, it should come as no surprise it’s here,” she said. “Viruses mutate for a living. As long as there are unvaccinated people in the world — in South Africa, 6% vaccination rate — this should not be a surprise.”
Ashton said it will be critical for the U.S. to ramp up its genetic sequencing to effectively monitor the spread of new variants, including omicron.
Ashton, however, stressed that the U.S. in a much better place than one year ago.
“We’re better at testing, we’re better at surveillance, we’re better at treating and we’re better at preventing,” Ashton said.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 29, 12:18 pm
Biden says omicron is ’cause for concern, not a cause for panic’
President Joe Biden stressed Monday that the omicron variant is a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
“We’ll fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed — not chaos and confusion,” Biden said. “We have more tools today to fight the variant than we ever had before, from vaccines to boosters to vaccines for children.”
If updated vaccines are needed to fight omicron, “we will accelerate their development and deployment with every available tool,” Biden said.
“I want to reiterate Dr. [Anthony] Fauci believes that the current vaccines provide at least some protection” against omicron, “and the booster strengthens that protection significantly,” Biden said.
“We do not yet believe that additional measures will be needed,” Biden said, but his administration is working with Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to develop plans in case.
Biden again emphasized that the best protection is getting vaccinated and urged any adults who were fully vaccinated before June 1 to go get a booster immediately. He also asked Americans to wear masks indoors.
Nov 29, 12:00 pm
New York City reinstates mask advisory ‘at all times’ indoors
New York City officials reinstated a mask advisory on Monday, “strongly recommending” all residents, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks inside public settings.
Public settings include grocery stores, building lobbies and offices, said Dr. Dave Chokshi, commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Masks are still required for everyone in public transit, health care settings, schools and congregate settings,” he added.
The omicron variant will likely be detected in New York City in the coming days, Chokshi said.
Health officials are “very, very carefully” monitoring the variant, said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Brian Hartman, Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 29, 11:33 am
Biden delays enforcement of federal worker vaccine mandate until after holidays
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is telling federal agencies they can hold off on suspending or firing federal workers for not complying with the vaccine mandate until after the holidays, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.
This change, which has not yet been publicly announced, comes as President Joe Biden is putting pressure on private employers to embrace their own vaccine mandates.
Ninety-two percent of federal workers have already had at least one vaccine dose, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The federal workforce’s compliance rate stands at 96.5%, meaning employees have had at least one vaccine dose or have a pending or approved exception or extension request.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Nov 29, 10:17 am
Omicron completely evading vaccines is ‘extremely unlikely’: Dr. Ashish Jha
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, told TODAY he assumes omicron is already in the U.S. and predicts it’ll be identified in the next few days.
But Jha said he believes it’s “extremely unlikely” that omicron would completely evade vaccines.
“I think that our vaccines will hold up — the question is … is it a little bit less effective? A lot less effective? We will have that data — both laboratory data and clinical data — in the next week or two at the most,” he said.
“I wouldn’t make any major changes to plans” for the holidays yet, he continued. “I would just wait and make sure you’re vaccinated and everybody around you is vaccinated.”
“If you’re fully vaccinated — and especially if you’re boosted — you’re going to have more protection against this variant,” Jha said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Nov 29, 9:42 am
Portugal finds 13 cases of omicron variant among Lisbon soccer club
Portuguese health authorities on Monday confirmed 13 cases of the omicron variant among professional soccer players.
The Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute said the players who tested positive are all members of the Lisbon-based Belenenses SAD soccer club and that one of them had recently traveled to southern Africa, where the omicron variant was first identified last week.
The institute is investigating whether this is one of the first reported instances of local transmission of the new coronavirus variant outside of southern Africa, where most of the cases have been recorded so far.
All 13 players have been placed in quarantine and those who have been in contact with them were ordered to isolate, regardless of their vaccination status or their exposure to possible contagion. The players and their close contacts will be regularly tested for COVID-19, the institute said.
-ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano
Nov 29, 9:05 am
Moderna’s chief medical officer talks omicron variant
Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, said the omicron variant probably emerged around mid-October in southern Africa.
“How transmissible is it? We think it’s probably quite transmissible. But how severe is the disease it causes? We don’t know the answer to that question yet,” Burton told ABC News’ Amy Robach in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
“While we think that vaccine effectiveness may come down based on the mutations seen in this virus … we should be able to get antibodies up” with the booster shot, Burton said.
“We’ll know from tests in the next couple of weeks how effective the vaccines are against this variant,” he added.
Nov 29, 8:15 am
Omicron variant will ‘spread widely,’ Fauci warns
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, is urging Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and are eligible to get a booster shot to do so now, in anticipation of the omicron variant spreading “widely.”
So far, there are no known confirmed cases of the new variant in the United States, according to Fauci, who is the chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden.
“But obviously, we’re on high alert,” Fauci told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
“It’s inevitable that, sooner or later, it’s going to spread widely because it has at least the molecular characteristics of being highly transmissible,” he added, “even though there are a lot of things about it that we do not know but will be able to ascertain in the next week or two.”
Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said omicron clearly has a “transmissibility advantage,” based on what scientists have seen in southern Africa, where the variant was first identified last week.
“But the extent of that, again, still needs to be worked out,” he noted. “We’ll know soon.”
Fauci said the severity of illness that the omicron variant can inflict remains unclear, despite early reports that some patients had mild symptoms.
Although there is still so much unknown about the new variant, Fauci said it’s clear that vaccinated individuals, particularly those who have received booster doses, fare better against COVID-19 than their unvaccinated counterparts.
“So we don’t know exactly what’s going on with this new variant,” he said, “but I would assume — and I think it’s a reasonable assumption — that when you get vaccinated and boosted and your [antibody] level goes way up, you’re going to have some degree of protection, at least against severe disease.”
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna booster shots have been authorized for all adults in the United States. Anyone over the age of 18 can get a booster dose at least six months after they received their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or at least two months after they got their single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“I would strongly suggest you get boosted now and not wait for the next iteration of [the vaccine], which we may not even need,” Fauci said. “The pharmaceutical companies are preparing to make a specific booster for [omicron], but we may not need that.”
Nov 29, 4:44 am
WHO says overall global risk of omicron variant is ‘very high’
The World Health Organization has assessed the overall global risk related to a newly discovered variant of the novel coronavirus as “very high.”
In a technical brief published Sunday, the WHO explained that omicron, or B.1.1.529, “is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations,” some of which it said “are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.”
“Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage, the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high,” the WHO concluded in a risk assessment. “Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of COVID-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors including where surges may take place.”
The variant was first identified in southern Africa last week and has quickly spread to several countries across the globe, sparking new travel restrictions and shaking financial markets. On Friday, the WHO officially named the variant omicron and designated it as a “variant of concern.” Both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that variants of concern have shown to spread more easily than others and cause more severe disease.
While omicron has not yet been detected in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, told ABC News on Sunday that the variant will “inevitably” arrive.
“The question is,” he added, “will we be prepared for it?”
(NEW YORK) — Officials in New York City have reinstated the city’s mask advisory while indoors as the omicron variant continues to spread around the globe.
City health officials are “strongly recommending” that all residents wear masks inside public settings such as grocery stores, building lobbies and offices, regardless of vaccination status.
“This includes those who are vaccinated and those who have had COVID-19,” Dr. Dave Chokshi, commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told reporters at a news conference Monday. “Higher quality masks can offer additional protection, and masks are still required for everyone in public transit, health care settings, schools and congregate settings.”
While the new variant has not been detected yet in New York City, there will likely be a positive case confirmed within days “based on what we know about its global spread,” Chokshi said.
The World Health Organization warned in a report Sunday that omicron poses a high likelihood of further transmission with a “very high” global risk.
New Yorkers who traveled or gathered in groups over the Thanksgiving holiday are also encouraged to get tested, officials said.
About 88% of adults and 81% of kids ages 12 to 17 in New York City have received at least one dose of the vaccine, ABC New York station WABC reported. The average daily number of infections is 905, and that number is increasing, according to city health data.
Health officials are “very, very carefully” monitoring the variant, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Monday. Nearly 5,400 people in the state are testing positive daily, on average, marking the highest number of new positive daily cases since February, according to the station.
President Joe Biden addressed the nation Monday, saying that while omicron is a “cause for concern,” there is no need to panic. Omicron will come to the U.S. “sooner or later,” Biden said.
Biden urged Americans to get vaccinated, including those who are now eligible for the booster, and to continue to wear masks indoors.
“We’ll fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed — not chaos and confusion,” Biden said. “We have more tools today to fight the variant than we ever had before, from vaccines to boosters to vaccines for children.”
Once omicron gets to the U.S., it will likely “spread widely,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on “Good Morning America.”
“It’s inevitable that, sooner or later, it’s going to spread widely because it has at least the molecular characteristics of being highly transmissible,” Fauci said.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Brian Hartman and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Barbara Sampson, the first woman to lead the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in its 100-year history, announced her departure Monday for a job in the private sector.
Sampson has been with the agency 23 years, nine as chief, and steered it through the grueling onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were so overwhelmed with the number of fatalities here in the city that we needed every OCME employee to be part of our COVID response,” Sampson recalled in an interview with ABC News.
Prior to the pandemic, Sampson oversaw the autopsies of Eric Garner, Joan Rivers and Jeffrey Epstein, each of which generated a degree of public controversy
“Keep with the truth and what is based in science and in medicine you can’t go too far astray,” she said of her guiding philosophy.
Sampson has championed new technology for DNA analysis and for opioids detection so autopsies can more quickly inform public health officials and law enforcement about what drugs are on the street.
She has maintained the office’s commitment, started under her predecessor Dr. Charles Hirsch, to keep examining human remains recovered from the 9/11 attacks. There were new identifications on the 20 year anniversary.
Sampson told ABC News she didn’t think much at the time of her appointment about being the first woman chief medical examiner in the city, but reflected on it now she is leaving her post for a position in the Mount Sinai Health System.
“I was clearly a role model for so many women who are interested in careers in medicine in science and in government. I found that now looking back extremely rewarding,” Sampson said.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 776,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 29, 10:17 am
Omicron completely evading vaccines is ‘extremely unlikely’: Dr. Ashish Jha
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, told TODAY he assumes omicron is already in the U.S. and predicts it’ll be identified in the next few days.
But Jha said he believes it’s “extremely unlikely” that omicron would completely evade vaccines.
“I think that our vaccines will hold up — the question is … is it a little bit less effective? A lot less effective? We will have that data — both laboratory data and clinical data — in the next week or two at the most,” he said.
“I wouldn’t make any major changes to plans” for the holidays yet, he continued. “I would just wait and make sure you’re vaccinated and everybody around you is vaccinated.”
“If you’re fully vaccinated — and especially if you’re boosted — you’re going to have more protection against this variant,” Jha said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Nov 29, 9:42 am
Portugal finds 13 cases of omicron variant among Lisbon soccer club
Portuguese health authorities on Monday confirmed 13 cases of the omicron variant among professional soccer players.
The Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute said the players who tested positive are all members of the Lisbon-based Belenenses SAD soccer club and that one of them had recently traveled to southern Africa, where the omicron variant was first identified last week.
The institute is investigating whether this is one of the first reported instances of local transmission of the new coronavirus variant outside of southern Africa, where most of the cases have been recorded so far.
All 13 players have been placed in quarantine and those who have been in contact with them were ordered to isolate, regardless of their vaccination status or their exposure to possible contagion. The players and their close contacts will be regularly tested for COVID-19, the institute said.
-ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano
Nov 29, 9:05 am
Moderna’s chief medical officer talks omicron variant
Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, said the omicron variant probably emerged around mid-October in southern Africa.
“How transmissible is it? We think it’s probably quite transmissible. But how severe is the disease it causes? We don’t know the answer to that question yet,” Burton told ABC News’ Amy Robach in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
“While we think that vaccine effectiveness may come down based on the mutations seen in this virus … we should be able to get antibodies up” with the booster shot, Burton said.
“We’ll know from tests in the next couple of weeks how effective the vaccines are against this variant,” he added.
Nov 29, 8:15 am
Omicron variant will ‘spread widely,’ Fauci warns
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, is urging Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and are eligible to get a booster shot to do so now, in anticipation of the omicron variant spreading “widely.”
So far, there are no known confirmed cases of the new variant in the United States, according to Fauci, who is the chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden.
“But obviously, we’re on high alert,” Fauci told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
“It’s inevitable that, sooner or later, it’s going to spread widely because it has at least the molecular characteristics of being highly transmissible,” he added, “even though there are a lot of things about it that we do not know but will be able to ascertain in the next week or two.”
Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said omicron clearly has a “transmissibility advantage,” based on what scientists have seen in southern Africa, where the variant was first identified last week.
“But the extent of that, again, still needs to be worked out,” he noted. “We’ll know soon.”
Fauci said the severity of illness that the omicron variant can inflict remains unclear, despite early reports that some patients had mild symptoms.
Although there is still so much unknown about the new variant, Fauci said it’s clear that vaccinated individuals, particularly those who have received booster doses, fare better against COVID-19 than their unvaccinated counterparts.
“So we don’t know exactly what’s going on with this new variant,” he said, “but I would assume — and I think it’s a reasonable assumption — that when you get vaccinated and boosted and your [antibody] level goes way up, you’re going to have some degree of protection, at least against severe disease.”
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna booster shots have been authorized for all adults in the United States. Anyone over the age of 18 can get a booster dose at least six months after they received their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or at least two months after they got their single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“I would strongly suggest you get boosted now and not wait for the next iteration of [the vaccine], which we may not even need,” Fauci said. “The pharmaceutical companies are preparing to make a specific booster for [omicron], but we may not need that.”
Nov 29, 4:44 am
WHO says overall global risk of omicron variant is ‘very high’
The World Health Organization has assessed the overall global risk related to a newly discovered variant of the novel coronavirus as “very high.”
In a technical brief published Sunday, the WHO explained that omicron, or B.1.1.529, “is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations,” some of which it said “are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.”
“Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage, the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high,” the WHO concluded in a risk assessment. “Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of COVID-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors including where surges may take place.”
The variant was first identified in southern Africa last week and has quickly spread to several countries across the globe, sparking new travel restrictions and shaking financial markets. On Friday, the WHO officially named the variant omicron and designated it as a “variant of concern.” Both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that variants of concern have shown to spread more easily than others and cause more severe disease.
While omicron has not yet been detected in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, told ABC News on Sunday that the variant will “inevitably” arrive.
“The question is,” he added, “will we be prepared for it?”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 776,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 29, 4:44 am
WHO says overall global risk of omicron variant is ‘very high’
The World Health Organization has assessed the overall global risk related to a newly discovered variant of the novel coronavirus as “very high.”
In a technical brief published Sunday, the WHO explained that omicron, or B.1.1.529, “is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations,” some of which it said “are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.”
“Given mutations that may confer immune escape potential and possibly transmissibility advantage, the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high,” the WHO concluded in a risk assessment. “Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of COVID-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors including where surges may take place.”
The variant was first identified in southern Africa last week and has quickly spread to several countries across the globe, sparking new travel restrictions and shaking financial markets. On Friday, the WHO officially named the variant omicron and designated it as a “variant of concern.” Both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that variants of concern have shown to spread more easily than others and cause more severe disease.
While omicron has not yet been detected in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, told ABC News on Sunday that the variant will “inevitably” arrive.
“The question is,” he added, “will we be prepared for it?”
(PHILADELPHIA) — A “thriving” Temple University student months away from graduating has been gunned down near the school’s Philadelphia campus.
Samuel Collington, a 21-year-old senior, was shot Sunday afternoon, the university said, becoming one of more than 500 people killed in Philadelphia this year.
He was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later from gunshot wounds to the chest and back, Philadelphia police said. No arrests have been made, police said.
Charlie Leone, the university’s executive director of Public Safety, called Collington “a bright and thriving political science student” who “already was succeeding in his field, interning as a Democracy Fellow with the city.”
He was set to graduate this spring.
“This is a true tragedy in every sense of the word,” Leone said in a statement Sunday, adding that Collington’s slaying “further highlights the senseless gun violence that continues to grip the city of Philadelphia.”
Last week Philadelphia reached 500 homicides for the year, tying the record set in 1990 for the sixth-largest city in the country.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a statement, “We will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners and other stakeholders to get ahead of the violent crime that is plaguing our beautiful communities. We remain committed to proactively patrolling neighborhoods and encourage community members to continue to work alongside the police.”
Outlaw told ABC News chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas earlier this month that Philadelphia has a gun culture problem.
“We’re on pace to get 6,000 illegal crime guns off the street this year; we’ve made a record number of arrests for carrying guns illegally,” she said. “We’re dealing with a culture here, there’s a culture of violence that we are trying to break through.”
Leone said Temple senior officials spoke with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s office on Sunday. He said the university is “intensifying our work with the city, community groups and the Philadelphia Police Department to further enhance safety in and around the Temple community.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 775,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the new is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 27, 3:35 pm
South Africa says it’s being ‘punished’
South Africa has complained it is being punished for discovering the new variant
A statement by the South African International Relations & Cooperation Department criticized the travel bans and said the bans were “akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.”
“Excellent science should be applauded and not punished. The global community needs collaboration and partnerships in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement from the South African goverment also read.
“A combination of South Africa’s capacity to test and it’s ramped-up vaccination programme, backed up by world class scientific community, should give our global partners the comfort that we are doing as well as they are in managing the pandemic. South Africa follows and enforces globally recognised COVID-19 health protocols on travel. No infected individuals are permitted to leave the country,” the statement continued.
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor said: “Whilst we respect the right of all countries to take the necessary precautionary measures to protect their citizens, we need to remember that this pandemic requires collaboration and sharing of expertise. Our immediate concern is the damage that these restrictions are causing to families, the travel and tourism industries and business.”
South Africa has already started engaging countries that have imposed travel bans with the view to persuade them to reconsider.
Nov 27, 3:11 pm
2 confirmed omicron cases in Germany
Two cases of the new omicron COVID-19 variant have been confirmed in Germany on Saturday.
The cases were confirmed in Bavaria and involve two poeple who arrived in Munich on Nov. 24 on a flight from South Africa, the Bavarian Ministry of Health and Care said.
Both travelers had returned to Bavaria on Wednesday after an extended stay in South Africa. They had been in domestic isolation since Nov. 25 after testing positive for PCR.
After reporting on the new variant, the two individuals had proactively arranged for themselves to be tested for the variant, a ministry spokeswoman said. The PCR test was positive in both of them, she said. The samples were further tested today at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute in Munich using a variant-specific PCR test, which detected the highly contagious omicron variant.
In the coming week, an additional whole genome sequencing should be carried out, said Munich virologist Oliver Keppler. However, according to Keppler, the PCR procedure carried out today “allows a clear differentiation from other SARS-CoV-2 variants.” Together with the travel history, the detection of omicron can be considered “doubtless,” he said.
The Bavarian Health Ministry urged passengers who arrived from South Africa on the same flight on Nov. 24 to report immediately to their local health department. All persons who traveled from South Africa in the past 14 days should immediately reduce their contacts, take a PCR test indicating their travel history and contact the health office immediately, the ministry said, adding: “Do everything to prevent spread.”
Moreover, all persons entering southern Africa from areas classified by the Robert Koch Institute as virus-variant areas must be quarantined for 14 days — this also applies regardless of vaccination status.
“We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of the new variant in the Free State and in Germany,” said a ministry spokeswoman in Munich. It is not yet clear whether the new variant is actually more contagious and leads to more hospitalizations, she said. “Until the science is clearer, however, we must exercise caution,” the spokeswoman stressed.
Earlier, Hesse’s Social Affairs Minister Kai Klose of the Green Party announced another suspected case. According to the report, several mutations typical for this variant were found in a traveler returning from South Africa. The fully vaccinated person had reportedly entered the country via Frankfurt Airport on Nov. 21 and developed symptoms over the course of the week. An exact result is expected in this case on Monday.
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou
Nov 27, 2:56 pm
US will “take it one step at a time” on omicron: Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris says she has been briefed on the omicron variant and when asked if there will be any additional travel restrictions, she said they will be “taking it one step at a time.”
Harris said that for now, the administration believes they’ve done “what we believe is necessary,” and they will “take every precaution” to protect Americans.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Nov 27, 1:11 pm
England sets new measures in response to omicron
English Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new tightened measures Saturday in response to the discovery of omicron in the UK. The measures include:
-All international arrivals entering England must take a Day 2 PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
-All contacts of suspected omicron cases must self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status.
-Face coverings will become compulsory on public transport and in shops.
The UK government had also said that omicron was found in Chelmsford, but said Saturday that that information was incorrect and that the variant had been found in Brentwood.
A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “We can confirm that a single case involving the new Covid-19 Variant of Concern (B 1.1.529) , Omicron, has been identified in Brentwood. This is linked to a single case from Nottingham involving international travel to South Africa.”
“We are working with regional and local public health officers who are assessing the situation. All close contacts of these individuals will be followed up and requested to isolate and get tested,” the spokesperson said in a Twitter thread.
“The individuals who have so far tested positive, as well as all members of their households, are being re-tested and have been told to self-isolate while contact tracing is underway …. While this work takes place, it is important that everyone takes sensible precautions — get a PCR test if you have symptoms, isolate when asked, wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces, ventilate rooms, get your vaccine and boosters as soon as you can,” the spokesperson added.
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou
Nov 27, 10:53 am
2 cases of new variant, omicron, found in England
Two cases of the newly discovered variant, omicron, were detected in the UK — in Chelmsford and Nottingham — according to the UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid.
The cases are linked to South Africa. Javid said four more African countries were added to the UK’s Travel Red List : Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola. Also currently on the list are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou
Nov 27, 8:17 am
‘Wouldn’t be surprised’ if omicron already in US: Fauci
Chief medical adviser to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the new COVID-19 variant omicron was already in the United States, on NBC Saturday morning.
“You know, I would not be surprised if it is. We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re already having travel-related cases that they’ve noted in Israel and Belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go, essentially all over,” Fauci said.
“Its ability to infect people who have recovered from infection and even people who have been vaccinated makes us say this is something you have to pay really close attention to and be prepared for something that’s serious. It may not turn out that way, but you really want to be ahead of it,” Fauci also said.
-ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway
Nov 27, 8:08 am
61 travelers from South Africa to Netherlands test positive, getting tested for omicron
Sixty-one people who traveled from South Africa to the Netherlands have tested positive for COVID-19 and will be tested for the newly discovered COVID variant omicron, The Associated Press reported.
Two flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town arrived in the Netherlands Friday, just after the Dutch government, along with other countries, imposed a ban on southern African nations with the discovery of omicron, according to the AP.
Those who tested positive must remain in quarantine for seven days if they have symptoms and five days if they do not.
-ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway
Nov 26, 9:50 pm
CDC says it’s monitoring omicron following WHO guidance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Friday that it is “following the details of this new variant,” omicron, first reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa.
“We are grateful to the South African government and its scientists who have openly communicated with the global scientific community and continue to share information about this variant with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and CDC,” the CDC said, adding that it is continuing to learn more about the variant and monitor its path.
No cases of omicron have been identified in the U.S. to date, but on Friday the WHO classified the new variant as a “variant of concern.”
“CDC is continuously monitoring variants and the U.S. variant surveillance system has reliably detected new variants in this country,” the CDC said. “We expect Omicron to be identified quickly, if it emerges in the U.S.”
The CDC recommends that people traveling to the U.S. continue to follow its guidance for traveling.
Nov 26, 11:22 am
Fauci says newly detected variant could be a ‘red flag’
U.S. and South African scientists will address the new B.1.1.529 variant that has been reported in Europe and Africa, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.
In an interview with CNN, Fauci said there is no indication the variant is in the U.S. but “anything is possible.”
“There’s a lot of travel, you never know exactly where it is,” Fauci said.
Scientists are still trying to determine if the variant can evade vaccines and is more transmissible.
“So right now you’re talking about sort of a red flag that this might be an issue, but we don’t know,” Fauci said.
The U.S. will evaluate the variant’s scientific data and decide if prevention measures such as travel bans are necessary, he noted.
“You’re prepared to do everything you need to do to protect the American public. But you want to make sure there’s a basis for doing that. And that’s what we’re doing right now,” Fauci said.
Nov 26, 10:08 am
Belgium confirms 1st European case of new variant
Belgium’s health department has confirmed its first case of the new B.1.1.529 variant.
The patient, a woman, had traveled to Belgium from Egypt via Istanbul. She developed symptoms 11 days after her return and was not vaccinated. Her family members have tested negative for COVID and the woman is not in a life-threatening condition, officials said.
Hong Kong has two confirmed cases and Israel has one other confirmed case of the B.1.1.529 variant. Several cases have been reported in South Africa and Botswana.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday issued a formal recommendation for countries in the 27 nation EU bloc to suspend travel with countries affected by the new variant.
Nov 26, 4:04 am
EU to propose travel ban on southern Africa over new variant
The European Union’s executive branch said Friday that it wants to suspend air travel to the bloc from southern Africa due to concerns over a newly identified variant of the novel coronavirus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement via Twitter, saying a proposal “to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the Southern Africa region” will be made “in close coordination” with EU member states.
The variant, called B.1.1.529, was first detected in South Africa earlier this week and has quickly spread. At least 22 cases have been confirmed in the country so far, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira told reporters Thursday that the new variant carries “a very high number of mutations,” but it’s unclear whether it will limit the effectiveness of vaccines.
Several cases of B.1.1.529 have since been confirmed in neighboring Botswana as well as in Hong Kong and Israel. The cases detected in Hong Kong and Israel were linked to travelers who had arrived from southern Africa.
The World Health Organization will meet on Friday to assess B.1.1.529 and determine whether it should be designated a variant “of interest” or “of concern.”
Nov 25, 8:01 pm
UK issues travel restrictions due to concerns over new variant
The United Kingdom announced Thursday new travel restrictions for six countries over concerns about a new variant of the novel coronavirus that emerged in South Africa.
The variant, known as B.1.1.529, has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from southern Africa. It has not yet been detected in the U.K., officials said.
“The early indications we have of this variant is that it may be more transmissible than the delta variant, and the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective against it,” U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said during a briefing Thursday.
Starting midday on Friday, all flights from six southern African countries — South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana — will be temporarily suspended, and travelers entering the U.K. from those countries after 4 a.m. on Sunday must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
Currently, B.1.1.529 is not designated by the World Health Organization as a variant “of concern” or “of interest.” So far, 22 cases have been confirmed in South Africa, according to the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
The WHO’s technical working group is scheduled to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether to give it a name from the Greek alphabet, based on its naming system for variants of concern and variants of interest.
The virus evolves as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying mutations, often just die out. Scientists monitor for possible changes that could be more transmissible or deadly, but sorting out whether new variants will have a public health impact can take time.
Nov 25, 10:18 am
Arizona hospital enters ‘crisis care’ operating mode
The Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona, is “operating in crisis care” due to the latest surge of COVID-19 cases in the state, local ABC affiliate KNXV reported.
The hospital only had 13 beds available and was “really struggling,” according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The state reported its 84,813th COVID-19 hospitalization on Tuesday, according to health department data. Arizona reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
(LOS ANGELES) — Several mall shootings and flash mob robbery sprees cast a pall on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Three people were shot, including a 10-year-old, and another three suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the subsequent evacuation when gunfire broke out at Southpoint Mall in Durham, North Carolina, Friday afternoon, police said.
The child and another male shooting victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while a man was in critical condition due to gunshot wounds as of Saturday afternoon, police said.
One person was in custody, while others involved in the shooting fled the scene in what did not appear to be a random incident, according to the Durham Police Department. No charges had been filed as of Saturday afternoon.
People started running and screaming after hearing multiple gunshots after 3 p.m. local time, shoppers said.
“There were people being trampled, going up and down the escalator,” Aleaha Marr, who was shopping with a friend at the time of the shooting, told ABC Raleigh station WTVD.
One person suffered a gunshot wound after a shooting at Tacoma Mall in Washington Friday evening, authorities said.
The incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. local time when a dispute near the food court escalated to gunfire, Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Gary Wurges told reporters.
The condition of the shooting victim was unknown at the time. Nobody was in custody, and there were no leads on suspects in the hours immediately after the shooting, police said.
Shoppers recounted the panic after gunfire broke out.
“We were about to get up and I hear about six shots or something,” Daisey Dockter, who was finishing a meal at the food court at the time of the shooting, told ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO. “We all just start running toward the door. It’s a huge mob of people. Everyone’s kind of pushing.”
The mall was evacuated and secured following the incident. Several stores started going on lockdown and served as places for people to hide, KOMO reported.
“Our doors were locked,” Peyton Comstock, who works at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, told the station. “Nobody could come in. We took in people obviously that were scared. There was a poor mom and daughter. She was so terrified. I felt so bad. [She was] hyperventilating.”
Several stores also reportedly saw “smash-and-grab” thefts on Black Friday.
The Los Angeles Police Department went on a city-wide tactical alert Friday night “due to increased robberies,” authorities said.
The alert followed a robbery at the Bottega Veneta store in the Melrose area, where an unknown amount of items were reportedly taken by a large group of people, according to ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
In Lakewood, a group of about eight people stole tools from a Home Depot just before 8 p.m. local time Friday, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. The items, which included hammers, sledgehammers and crowbars, amounted to around $400, authorities said.
The incidents follow reports of smash-and-grab thefts that occurred earlier this week at the Beverly Center and Topanga Mall.
The LAPD stepped up patrols in major shopping districts with the help of California Highway Patrol units in the wake of the robberies, Chief Michel Moore told KABC Wednesday.
“We know that when police officers are visible, when they’re in our neighborhoods, that we have safer neighborhoods, we have better interactions and we just overall are just a more safer city,” Moore told the station.
Another flash mob theft occurred in Minnesota Friday night, when a group of as many as 30 swarmed a Best Buy in south metro Minneapolis, authorities said.
The incident occurred after 8 p.m. local time, when the group allegedly stole electronics and fled before police arrived, the Burnsville Police Department said.
So far, no arrests have been made, and it’s unclear how much merchandise was stolen, police said.
