Coronavirus

The fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus has become dominant in the United States with lightning speed, and claimed the life on Monday of an unvaccinated man in Texas, officials said.

The spike in Covid-19 cases is alarming public health officials, who fear an explosion of infections after the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

The Omicron variant now accounts for 73 percent of US coronavirus infections based on sequencing data for the week ended on Saturday, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

The Ministry of Health recorded the cases after the mandatory 3-day hotel stay and testing.

MOH’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said in accordance with entry requirements, all cases had tested negative in the 72 hours before departure and are fully vaccinated.

Dr Fong added that all the cases are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and have been isolated within hotels with protocols that have been established in the lead-up to border opening.

He said the positive samples will be sent to the partner laboratory in Australia for genomic sequencing.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled" said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that "difficult decisions" must be made.

"In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events" he said.

He added that there was now "consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than... Delta".

Dr Api Talemaitoga said he is sceptical the allocated government funding for Pacific-lead initiatives will be enough, with many providers running on the 'smell of an oily rag' already.

He said adequate funding will be the key to a strong community push to administer boosters and vaccinate children in the new year:

"The reason for that is just two doses of the pfizer vaccine doesn't give enough protection to people from Omicron," he said.

Fiji reported two cases of the variant two weeks ago - both patients had arrived in the country from Nigeria on 25 November.

Health Secretary James Fong said more than 70 countries had reported cases of Omicron and it was probably in most countries, even if it hadn't been detected yet.

He said if there was an outbreak in Fiji, it could again overwhelm the health system.

Dr Fong said vaccines alone would not get any country out of the crisis, and that nations must prevent the spread of Omicron with mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing.

Acting Country Representative for WHO in PNG, Anna Maalsen said this is the first visit of Dr Kasai to PNG since the beginning of the pandemic, but not his first time to visit. 

“Our work and values are inspired by WHO’s vision.  A world of which all people attain the highest possible levels of health. Here in the West Pacific Region we are working for the future. A future in which people and countries will always be the driving force for what we do.” Maalsen said.

Authorities have reported 2566 new cases of Covid-19 in NSW, breaking another record.

It is the highest tally of daily coronavirus cases yet in Australia, increasing from the 2482 cases announced yesterday.

Cases were expected to jump with the ongoing relaxation of public health orders, while the Omicron variant has been blamed for the fast rise in infections.

There were no deaths from the virus in NSW on Saturday, but NSW Health said 227 people were in hospital in the state, including 28 people in intensive care wards.

A further 90,418 daily Covid cases have been reported across the UK on Saturday, after days of record highs.

Cabinet ministers have been briefed on the latest Covid data.

London's mayor said he was "incredibly concerned" by the city's infection levels and the major incident was "a statement of how serious things are".

Sadiq Khan said Friday's 26,000 new cases in London were having an impact on staff absences for the capital's emergency services.

American Samoa's Director of Health Motusa Tuileama Nua says the traveller was asymptomatic.

Motusa told KHJ News the all other travellers have yielded negative results.

This is the 11th positive covid test result detected in quarantine since American Samoa resumed commercial flights from Honolulu three months ago.

All of the confirmed cases have been asymptomatic.

The December 6 flight was Hawaiian Airlines' last commercial flight for the year.

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Tasmania has also reported its first case, after the border to the rest of the country reopened yesterday.

Queensland has 22 new cases of Covid and 18 of those were detected outside quarantine, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said.

The local cases spent up to a week in the community and were recorded in Brisbane's south, Brisbane's north, the Darling Downs, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, West Moreton and the Wide Bay.

D'Ath said most were acquired while in another state.