Variant's pace spurs fresh WHO appeal

More action urged to curb Omicron as children get jabs in hotspot Europe

GENEVA－The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act against the coronavirus variant. In tandem with the threat facing health systems, many investors fear that the new strain could throw the global recovery into jeopardy.

Omicron, first detected by South Africa and reported to the WHO on Nov 24, has a large number of mutations and that's set alarm bells ringing since its discovery.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which was first identified in India and accounts for the bulk of the world's coronavirus cases.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that the strain had been reported in 77 countries and had probably spread to most nations undetected "at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant".

The United States Federal Reserve was scheduled to announce its latest policy decision on Wednesday, and could deliver a strong signal for rate rises in 2022. That will be followed by meetings of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on Thursday.

"The question this week is whether central banks perceive inflation or Omicron to be the greater risk," said Craig Erlam, an analyst at currency trading platform Oanda.

"Omicron has clearly added a huge cloud of uncertainty over the outlook for the economy in the coming months just as many countries were preparing for tighter monetary policy."

Although Britain on Monday confirmed what is thought to be the world's first death caused by Omicron, there is no proof yet that the variant causes more severe illness.

The WHO on Tuesday provided room for cautious optimism, saying Africa had recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week but a lower number of deaths compared with previous waves.

However, the global health agency added that low vaccination rates in regions including Africa－where Omicron was first detected－would provide breeding grounds for new variants of the virus, which is known to have claimed more than 5.3 million lives around the world.

Fresh wave

Several European nations on Wednesday started vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 as Europe battles a fresh wave of infections and hospital admissions. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson endured a major parliamentary test when he succeeded in getting approval for COVID-19 curbs despite a revolt within his party.

Germany, Spain, Greece and Hungary are among those nations opening up their inoculation drives to younger children, with doctors reporting strong initial demand from parents.

A number of European countries will launch similar vaccination drives in the coming days, including Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Baltic states and the Czech Republic, while others are still finalizing their plans.

Europe is the global coronavirus hotspot, recording 62 percent of the world's total cases in the past seven days, while the five countries with the world's highest infection rates are all European.

The Netherlands followed other European nations in reintroducing restrictions on Tuesday as Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced primary schools will shut next week and a nighttime lockdown will be extended over Omicron fears.

Schools will close from Dec 20 instead of Dec 25 due to concerns that children, among whom infection rates are the highest, could pass on the virus to older relatives.

In Britain, Johnson's Conservative government on Tuesday was undermined when almost 100 of its MPs rejected the new restrictions put to Parliament.

The government will now introduce the new rules for mask-wearing, and daily testing to avoid the need for people to go into isolation and vaccine passes for certain settings in England.

But many MPs from Johnson's party believe the measures－which only passed with support from the opposition－are excessive and undermine basic freedoms.

Scientists have predicted the true number of those already infected with Omicron in Britain could be as high as 200,000 a day, and the English Premier League reported a record caseload that threatened further disruption to soccer fixtures.

Agencies - Xinhua