US weighs travel curbs as new Omicron variant hits 23 countries

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to toughen coronavirus testing and screening of international fliers to the United States by requiring them to provide a negative result from a test taken within 24 hours of departure, a spokesman for the agency said Tuesday night as Saudi Arabia and Nigeria on Wednesday became the latest countries to record cases of Omicron, the latest variant of the Covid-19. With these, the elusive virus variant has now made its debut in both the Gulf Arab nation and West Africa.
 
With the fresh additions, the variant has now been recorded in nearly 23 countries where triggering travel bans across the world.

 
The US move to strengthen the testing regime reflects growing concern about the Omicron variant, a highly mutated form of the virus that was first documented by researchers in South Africa and detected in more than a dozen countries around the world. “CDC is working to modify the current global testing order for travel as we learn more about the Omicron variant; a revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international air travelers to one day before departure to the United States,” said the spokesman, Jason McDonald.
 

“This strengthens already robust protocols in place for international travel, including requirements for foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated,” he added.

 
Meanwhile, a federal advisory committee on Tuesday voted to recommend that the government for the first time authorize the use of an antiviral pill to combat the worst effects of Covid-19. The advisory committee, in a surprisingly narrow 13-to-10 vote, endorsed the pill from Merck, while public health officials worldwide raced to buttress their defences against the newly emerging Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
 
The Merck treatment, known as molnupiravir, has been shown to modestly reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death from Covid. The pill could be authorised for use in the United States within days and available to patients within weeks. The company claimed   The pill could alter the fight against the pandemic by turning Covid-19 into an illness that is easily treated outside of a hospital setting.

 
Federal judge halts Biden’s plan
 
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the start of President Biden’s national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which had been set to begin next week. The injunction, written by Judge Terry A. Doughty, effectively expanded a separate order issued on Monday by a federal court in Missouri. The earlier one had applied only to 10 states that joined in a lawsuit against the president’s decision to require all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. “There is no question that mandating a vaccine to 10.3 million health care workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency,” Judge Doughty, of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, wrote. He added: “It is not clear that even an act of Congress mandating a vaccine would be constitutional.”

 
Meanwhile, Germany reported the highest number of deaths from coronavirus since mid-February on Wednesday as hospitals warned that the country could have 6,000 people in intensive care by Christmas, above the peak of last winter. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's state infectious disease agency, reported 67,186 new cases on Wednesday.
 
2nd case in Japan
 
Japan's flag airlines halted new reservations on Wednesday and the government widened a travel ban amid escalating alarm over Omicron after a second case of the coronavirus variant was detected in the country.
 
Japan Airlines Co and Holdings Inc said they were suspending new reservations for international flights to Japan until the end of December. The move came at the request of the transport ministry.