New Coronavirus News from 10 Jan 2021

COVID border steps force 300 foreigners to decline Japan teacher jobs [Kyodo News Plus, 10 Jan 2022]

Japan's COVID-19 border restrictions appear to have prompted more than 300 people to decline offers for foreign language teacher and assistant positions in Japan, leading to a fall in the number of such instructors in the country, according to a Kyodo News survey.

The withdrawal from the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program comes as prospective language instructors from the United States and other countries remain in limbo over Japan's strict immigration policies since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the survey shows.

The actual number of withdrawals could be even higher, given that some municipalities have yet to respond to the survey, which covers prefectural governments, major cities and international groups promoting educational exchanges.

The JET program, launched in 1987, works with municipalities -- alongside the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Foreign Ministry -- to send those living abroad to teach at elementary, junior high and high schools across the country for a maximum of five years.

According to the internal affairs ministry, 5,761 candidates joined the program in fiscal 2019. But the ministry has not released data for the subsequent years due to an "inability to accurately state the number as the situation evolves," an official said.

However, the number of JET candidates in fiscal 2021 is believed to have fallen to around 4,000, including those who have been reappointed.

The emergence of the Omicron variant late last year has additionally led to participants expected to arrive between December and January to suspend their travel, with some being told not to come on the day they were supposed to leave.

JET candidate Anna Burbo, who had planned to arrive in Japan this month from Michigan, is one such candidate. The 25-year-old said the suspension has led many to suffer economic distress and be unable to find new employment due to uncertainties over when participants may be able to fly over.

About 600 people due to participate in the program have yet to enter Japan, raising concerns that further withdrawals from the initiative may lead to a reduction in opportunities for international exchange and education.

Bahia Simons-Lane, executive director at the U.S. Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme Alumni Association, said Japan should be more flexible in its border restrictions and make exceptions for some foreigners.

Sweden to implement more COVID measures as Omicron squeezes healthcare [Reuters, 10 Dec 2021]

by Johan Ahlander, Simon Johnson and Bernadette Baum

STOCKHOLM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Sweden will introduce more measures to stem a rising number of COVID cases that have placed a greater burden on the healthcare system, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday.

Sweden has seen the fastest spread of COVID cases in recent weeks as the Omicron variant has surged through the country. A record 60,000 cases were detected last week, despite limited testing capabilities.

"The situation has deteriorated, without doubt. The level of infections in Sweden is at a historically high level," Andersson told a news conference.

The new measures, most of which will be introduced on Wednesday, include a work-from-home mandate, where possible, and a cap on the number of people allowed at public events.

Restaurants will have to close by 11 p.m. and guests will have to be seated and in groups no greater than eight people. Adults will be asked to limit social contact in indoor settings.

The measures will be evaluated after two weeks, but are expected to be in place for at least four weeks.

Still, while infection numbers have soared, the number of COVID patients hospitalized iswell below the peaks seen in previous waves. The number of new deaths has also been comparatively low.

More than 1,000 people are being treated in hospital for COVID and roughly 100 of them are in intensive care units.

The strain on healthcare is being exacerbated by the spread by other respiratory viruses as well as staff shortages, the National Board of Health and Welfare said.

"Unfortunately, we need to make another effort to get down the number of new infections," Andersson said.

The health agency said on Monday that the peak of the wave will come later than previously expected and that the Omicron variant made the disease harder to predict. The previous assessment was for a peak in mid-January and then a gradual decline.

COVID-19: What do we know about Omicron in 2022? [World Economic Forum, 10 Dec 2021]

By Kate Whiting

• The World Health Organization has warned against calling the COVID-19 Omicron variant 'mild'.
• A new wave of COVID-19 infections is sweeping the globe, caused by the new Omicron variant.
• From symptoms to severity, here's what you need to know about Omicron in 2022.

"Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalizing people and it is killing people."

This was the stark warning against complacency from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, at a press conference on 6 January.

A little over six weeks since the Omicron variant was first reported to the WHO in South Africa on 24 November, it has spread rapidly across the globe, causing what Dr. Tedros described as a 'tsunami of cases' that is overwhelming health systems.

And the pandemic is far from over. The week ending 2 January saw the highest number of cases reported since the pandemic's start, according to the WHO, and new record COVID-19 infections being reported by countries from Argentina to Israel each day.

What we know about the Omicron variant now
Omicron is less severe than the Delta variant. Janet Diaz, WHO lead on clinical management, said early studies showed there was a reduced risk of hospitalization from the variant compared with Delta. There appears also to be a reduced risk of severity in both younger and older people, but uncertainties remain.

South Africa announced on 30 December it had passed its peak of Omicron infections, without seeing a major spike in deaths.

But Dr. Tedros warned against categorizing the variant as 'mild'.

"Hospitals are becoming overcrowded and understaffed, which further results in preventable deaths from not only COVID-19 but other diseases and injuries where patients cannot receive timely care."

Omicron spreads quickly. In the last week of 2021, 1 in 15 people in England had COVID-19, rising to 1 in 10 in London, according to the Office of National Statistics, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling it the "fastest growth in COVID cases that we have ever known".

The number of people in London hospitals with COVID-19 almost quadrupled in a month, from 1,100 in early December to 4,000 in early January, the BBC reported, and 200 military personnel were deployed to help London hospitals hit by staff shortages.

And in Australia, total confirmed COVID-19 infections have passed 1 million - with more than half of these coming in the last week, according to Reuters.

The symptoms appear to be different from previous COVID-19 variants. While the main COVID-19 symptoms are still said to be cough, high temperature and loss of smell and taste, Omicron accounted for half of all cold-like illnesses in the UK, the ZOE COVID study reported in December.

The top five symptoms reported in London on the ZOE app for those testing positive for COVID-19 were runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat.

Studies on animals suggest Omicron infects the upper airways more than the lungs, which could explain the different symptoms. But this has implications for children, reports Nature, who tend to be more affected by upper respiratory tract infections due to smaller nasal passages.

Do COVID-19 vaccines work against the Omicron variant?
Research continues, but one study from Imperial College London suggests the best protection comes from three COVID-19 vaccine shots, which is why countries have rolled out COVID-19 vaccination booster programmes.

Compared to the Delta variant, scientists found Omicron to evade the immune response from either previous infection or vaccination much more easily.

In December, they estimated vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic Omicron infection of between 0% and 20% after two doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine, and between 55% and 80% after a booster dose.

The UK Health Security Agency's chief medical adviser, Dr Susan Hopkins, told the Guardian: “I think what we’re seeing is that if you’ve had two doses more than three months ago, then it’s not going to prevent you from getting symptomatic disease.”

But it's not sustainable to administer boosters every three to six months, Patrick Vallance, Britain's chief scientific adviser, has said. The long-term view would be to settle into a "more routine type of vaccine programme".

Meanwhile, Dr. Tedros again warned that vaccine inequity across the globe risks prolonging the pandemic.

Based on the current rate of vaccine rollout, 109 countries will miss the WHO's target for 70% of the world's population to be fully vaccinated by July, he said. That aim is seen as helping end the acute phase of the pandemic.

"Booster after booster in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic while billions remain completely unprotected," Dr. Tedros said.

New COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising as the omicron surge continues [MarketWatch, 10 Dec 2021]

By Jaimy Lee

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is soon expected to break last year’s record, experts say

The U.S. is still weeks away from a peak in the number of new COVID-19 cases as the country continues to report soaring rates of new infections due to the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Airlines are still canceling flights, citing weather and outbreaks among workers. More lawmakers are testing positive for the virus, including Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“We believe cases in major metropolitan areas on the coasts will likely peak in the next two weeks,” Chris Meekins, a health policy expert and a health care analyst at Raymond James, told investors on Monday. “Areas in the Midwest will likely trail by a few weeks.”

Though infections with omicron are thought to be milder, the sheer volume in cases still means that hospitals are filling up. It takes about two weeks after cases first start to increase to see a rise in hospitalizations.

The U.S. is expected to hit a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations within days, Meekins said.

There is a difference between people who are hospitalized for COVID-19, and people who test positive for the virus while in the hospital.

“Both of those things are happening at the same time,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday during a press briefing, later adding: “Those hospital screening programs have been ongoing for months now. So I don’t think that that’s a reason for the [increased] number of cases.”

Other COVID-19 news to know:
• Citigroup Inc. is moving forward with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. According to a report in Bloomberg News, Citi employees must be vaccinated by Jan. 14 or will be placed on unpaid leave, with their last day of work set for Jan. 31.
• The American public is losing faith in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as we round the corner into the third year of the pandemic. It has been criticized for a series of messaging missteps, according to Axios, including the change in isolation policy and its scattered recommendations about booster shots.
• It’s still somewhat unclear how well rapid antigen tests can catch omicron. One expert told The Wall Street Journal that people who are vaccinated and boosted might not get a positive test until three or four days after infection, based on the “peak concentration of the virus.” Another expert said people may be infectious before they have enough virus to test positive.
• That said, some rapid tests are easier to use than others, according to the ECRI Institute, which formally evaluated seven tests. The test that’s the easiest to use? The On/Go.
Here’s what the numbers say

The average number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is now 677,243 per day, according to a New York Times tracker. The daily average for hospitalizations stands at 130,006, up 80% from two weeks ago, and the daily average for COVID-19-related deaths is 1,559, up 16% from two weeks ago. New cases are rising across the U.S. but are highest in northeastern states, including New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

About 207.6 million people in the U.S., or 62.5% of the population, are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, while 75.3 million people have gotten a COVID-19 booster shot. That’s 36.3% of the population.