December 2 Omicron coronavirus variant news

All 14 people who tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus on two flights from South Africa to the Netherlands last Friday had been vaccinated, a spokesperson for the local health board tells CNN.

“Everyone in whom the Omicron variant was found on Friday was vaccinated,” Willem van den Oetelaar, spokesperson for the Kennemerland health board, told CNN in a statement.

The Dutch government confirmed earlier this week that 14 of the 624 people who arrived in the Netherlands on Friday were found to be positive for the Omicron variant.

Around 90% of the total 61 people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 "have told us that they were vaccinated,” van den Oetelaar said.

The second case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the United States has been identified in Minnesota, according to a statement from state health officials.

The state's Public Health Laboratory found the variant in a specimen from a Minnesota resident with recent travel history to New York City.

The person with the Omicron variant is an adult male, is a resident of Hennepin County and had been vaccinated, according to officials.

Health officials expect to find more cases of the variant as genetic sequencing continues around the country. The United States’ first case was identified in California on Wednesday. Since the World Health Organization designated Omicron a variant of concern, health officials have made clear they expect to find cases in the United States. However, the Delta variant of the coronavirus remains the dominant variant globally and in the United States.

Minnesota epidemiologists said they will continue to investigate and collaborate with New York City researchers and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Having a robust virus surveillance system in place allowed MDH to quickly identify Omicron once it entered the state and made it more likely that Minnesota would be among the first states to find the variant," according to the statement.

Minnesota health officials continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated and get their booster shots, as well as practice social distancing, head-washing and mask-wearing.

Travel bans will not keep Omicron cases out of countries, but if they are put in place, they should be used well to buy time, Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told CNN Thursday.

The duration of a travel ban should be used to ramp up surveillance, including looking at how and where people will be tested, and what will happen when there are positive cases, what the situation is in hospitals, how vaccination can be accelerated, and how to advise people and help them protect themselves, she added.

WHO has issued guidance against travel bans.

She also spoke about how much of a time lag there is in countries that are thought to have Omicron and the countries that actually do.

“Probably there are many more countries, we expect, that already do have cases of SARS-CoV-2, the Omicron variant,” she said. “It is simply a matter really of testing."

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The Omicron variant could be responsible for "over half" of all coronavirus infections in wider Europe within the next few months, according to the European Center for Disease and Control Prevention (ECDC).

A news release from the ECDC Thursday said that preliminary data based on mathematical modeling of Omicron "suggests a substantial advantage over the Delta variant.” 

Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, remarked that a "large number of factors" remain that "can change the dynamics of the situation,” adding the caveat that the evidence the ECDC has so far is limited.

In the face of this limited data, a "multi-layered approach" is required to delay the spread of Omicron, the ECDC said.

The rollout of vaccines to the unvaccinated and booster doses to people over 40 remains "imperative," Ammon said, adding that physical distancing measures, adequate ventilation in enclosed spaces and working from home if feeling ill are also examples of helpful measures. 

The ECDC advised that any temporary travel-related measures ought to "be carefully considered in light of the latest epidemiological situation" and "regularly reviewed as new evidence emerges.”

Ahead of President Biden’s visit to the National Institutes of Health this afternoon, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said that the measures in Biden’s winter Covid-19 strategy “will all help accelerate our path out of the pandemic and protect Americans.”

Zients touted new measures in the strategy released this morning during an appearance on MSNBC, including a national campaign for booster shots, hundreds of new family vaccination sites, at-home testing covered by insurance going forward, and tens of millions of free at-home tests.

He declined to say whether Americans should expect enhancements to existing vaccine mandates, instead reiterating that vaccine requirements “work” and lead to “significant increases” in the vaccination rate.

Pressed on whether there could be a domestic travel vaccine requirement, Zients noted that the administration is extending its domestic travel masking policy, but said “everything’s on the table.”

He also defended the administration’s travel ban enacted earlier this week.

“There were hundreds of cases in South Africa, in that region. The decision, out of an abundance of caution, was to stop travel from that region while we evaluate the variant and get prepared,” he said. 

Germany is banning unvaccinated people from accessing all but the most essential businesses, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, to curb the spread of coronavirus, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor, Olaf Scholz, announced Thursday.

Following crisis talks with regional leaders, Merkel and Scholz said that they want to restrict the number of people at large events such as soccer matches to curb the spread of coronavirus.

They also announced further restrictions in private settings for unvaccinated people.

Merkel, who called the coronavirus situation “serious,” said that she backed the call for mandatory vaccinations.

According to her plans, the German parliament should vote on the matter before the end of the year so that mandatory vaccinations could then come into force at the earliest in February or March if the proposal is voted through Germany's parliament.

The patient with the first confirmed case of the coronavirus Omicron variant in the United States is doing well, San Francisco health officer Dr. Susan Philip told CNN.

“This first individual is doing well,” Philip told CNN’s John Berman on New Day Thursday, adding that there are no signs of further transmission of the virus yet.

“We’re so happy to hear that and they absolutely contributed to our understanding in San Francisco, and nationally, because they came to our attention, they reported their symptoms and they called us at public health so that we could start the laboratory process to detect the first case in the US," she said. 

The first confirmed case of the Omicron variant in the US was announced on Wednesday.  

Asked about any signs of transmission from the patient, Philip said that they are still in the process of investigation, and that they wanted to notify colleagues at the state level and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the public, as soon as possible. 

“No signs yet,” Philip said, when asked to clarify if there was a sign of transmission or additional cases linked to this one. “And, you know, I think it’s important, as you noted, that this is the first case detected, it almost certainly is not the first case in the US.” 

She said that it was still early days, but the steps they’re taking in San Francisco, such as boosting people, continued indoor masking and getting people tested, are key to prevent spread.

Africa has seen an average 20% increase in Covid-19 cases over the last four weeks, due to the sharp uptick of infections in South Africa. This rise can be mainly attributed to the new Omicron coronavirus variant, Africa CDC Director Dr. John Nkengasong said at a virtual news briefing Thursday. 

Southern Africa is experiencing a 153% increase, while central, west, east and northern Africa reported a continued decrease in cases in the last month, according to Nkengasong. There was also a 9% average decrease in new deaths over the last four weeks on the continent. 

What is concerning, according to the director, is the upcoming holiday season when people are expected to move around more and potentially pose a greater risk for increasing infections. “We expect to see an outburst towards the end of December and January time period because of the holiday season.”

Nkengasong called for a coordinated approach among African countries and beyond in managing the variant and expressed hope that as more information about the variant comes to light, travel bans would be lifted quickly “so that South Africa will continue to get the supplies that they need.”

Most adults in the United States say they are “frustrated” about the status of Covid-19 vaccinations overall amid stagnant vaccination intentions and uptake, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor survey published Thursday. 

The share of adults who refuse to be vaccinated has held steady all year, with about one in seven adults (14%) saying they will “definitely not” get vaccinated, according to the survey.

The overall vaccination rate has remained largely unchanged in recent months, and only about 5% of adults plan to get vaccinated “as soon as possible” or “only if required.”

Since January, frustration has replaced optimism as the most common emotion. Less than half (48%) of adults say they feel “optimistic” about vaccinations in the US, down from a third (66%) in January, while the share of those feeling frustrated rose from 50% to 58%. 

The survey was conducted for two weeks among a nationally representative sample of 1,820 adults in mid-November.