December 1 Omicron coronavirus variant news

Japan has canceled a ban on accepting new reservations for inbound international flights, according to the Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 

On Wednesday, the Transport Ministry had asked airlines to refuse reservations on international flights to Japan over concerns of the Omicron coronavirus variant. It would have applied to all travelers — including Japanese citizens — from December 1 through December 31.

But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later said he had instructed the ministry to reconsider the decision out of consideration for Japanese citizens’ need to return.

Kishida added the initial announcement had caused confusion while talking to reporters from his office on Thursday. 

Airlines can now take new reservations as long as the number of passengers entering Japan remains below 3,500 a day — a limit on arrivals that was lowered from 5,000 last month, a transport ministry official said, according to Reuters.

South Korea identified 5,266 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a record high for a second consecutive day, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a news release Thursday.

That breaks the previous record of 5,123 new cases, recorded on Tuesday. 

Last month, South Korea announced it would start “living with Covid-19” and began easing restrictions. But its reopening has coincided with record new infections, critical cases and deaths. Concerns over the new Omicron variant are also threatening the country’s recovery.

South Korea’s total confirmed cases increased to 457,612, while the death toll rose by 47 to 3,705, according to KDCA. Some 733 patients are in critical condition, KDCA said.

That’s despite high vaccination rates. As of Wednesday, 80.1% of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to KDCA.

Travel restrictions: The rise in cases has prompted authorities to mandate a 10-day quarantine for all incoming international travelers, including Korean nationals, starting Friday for two weeks.

The move came as five Omicron cases were reported by the country in travelers arriving from Nigeria. 

The mandate applies to travelers from all countries, regardless of their vaccination status, KDCA said.

Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, expressed hope the pharmaceutical company’s Covid-19 vaccine would deliver the “highest efficacy” against the Omicron variant.

“Our hope, at least in Moderna, is that we’re going to continue to see the highest efficacy overall and continue to see the boosters push that even higher,” he said during CNN’s town hall tonight.

Hoge was responding to Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel remarks on Tuesday in which he suggested current vaccines might struggle with Omicron.

“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level . . . we had with [the] Delta [variant],” Bancel said in an interview with the Financial Times. “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to … are like, ‘This is not going to be good.’”

Hoge took issue with Bancel’s word choice, but acknowledged this evening that it is likely the current vaccines could be less effective against Omicron.

Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge joins CNN's town hall on Wednesday night.

Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna, said during CNN’s town hall tonight that if vaccines hold up against Omicron, they could provide benefit against future strains of the virus that have significant mutations.

Looking at the history of Covid-19 vaccines, Hoge said they have had good efficacy against previous variants, including Gamma, Beta and the Delta variant that became the dominant strain earlier this year.

Watch:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said Wednesday that with the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant, Americans are still safe to travel and would not suggest anything different from previous safety recommendations.

“We just have a problem that’s identifiable now, and just as I said, and I’ll say it again, if you have a vaccinated situation, your family’s vaccinated, enjoy the holidays, indoor with your family in a family setting,” Fauci told CNN at a town hall.

Watch here:

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans should not lose sight of the dangers of the Delta variant even as the Omicron strain of coronavirus dominates headlines.

Fauci urged the 60 million Americans who remain unvaccinated to get their shots as quickly as possible since it is proven to lower the transmission and dangers of the Delta variant.

“We still have 99.9% of the isolates are Delta, and we know what we can do with Delta,” he said. “We have, within our capability, to block it by getting the people who are unvaccinated vaccinated.”

Fauci added that Americans ought to take other precautions as well, such as wearing masks, as colder weather settles on much of the country.

“There are a lot of things we can do now with what we’re dealing with now, and what we’re dealing with now is Delta,” he said.

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It is too early to tell whether people will need to receive a Covid-19 vaccine each year to protect against infection, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during the company’s town hall Wednesday evening.

Fauci added: “So the honest answer is we don’t know what’s going to be required. I hope we get a durability protection from the boost that we won’t have to be chasing all the time against the new variant. But that just remains to be seen.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he “felt really badly” about the US travel ban imposed on South Africa and other southern African countries following the detection of the Omicron variant.

Dozens of countries around the world have imposed temporary travel bans on several countries in southern Africa. While the Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa, it doesn’t mean it necessarily originated in the country.

“I would hope that we’d get enough information soon that we could pull back on that as quickly as possible because you don’t want individual countries to feel that when they are honest and transparent that there are negative consequences for them. So I do really feel badly about that.”

Earlier today: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday described widespread travel bans imposed on southern African countries over fears of the Omicron variant as “unacceptable,” likening the restrictions to apartheid.

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The Biden administration will extend existing requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, buses, trains and boats, as well as in airports and other transportation hubs, through March to address concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant.

In August, the Transportation Security Administration extended its US federal transportation mask mandate through January 18 due to concerns at that time over the Delta variant.

Reuters was the first to report on the mandate extension.

Read more:

MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 01: A sign reading, 'masks required in this area,' is seen as travelers prepare to check-in for their Delta Airlines flight at the Miami International Airport on February 01, 2021 in Miami, Florida. An executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden last week mandates mask-wearing on federal property and on public transportation as part of his plan to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Related article Biden to extend transportation mask mandate through March

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a CNN town hall tonight that laboratory data on the Omicron variant should be available in a few weeks but real world data is still unknown.

“We’ll get the laboratory data in a couple of weeks, but we’ll have to get the experience from our South African colleagues about what the real clinical effect is going to be,” Fauci said.

“You never know until you test it in an in vitro, or test tube situation, and then you get into real world data of what happens when a vaccinated person or a boosted person comes into contact and gets infected.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during CNN's town hall on Wednesday night.

The world has much to learn about the Omicron coronavirus variant before any decision can be made on how to address it, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN tonight during its town hall.

The single Omicron case detected in the United States, which “would be considered a breakthrough infection because the person was fully vaccinated doesn’t really tell you much at all because we have breakthrough infections with Delta where people who have been vaccinated, fully vaccinated very often more often than not they have mild illness,” the nation’s leading infectious disease expert said.

Earlier today: Fauci announced the first US case of the Omicron variant had been detected in the US, in a traveler who had arrived from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive Nov. 29.

The traveler, who landed in California, had mild symptoms and was self-isolating.

Watch here:

U Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday described widespread travel bans imposed on southern African countries over fears of the Omicron variant as “unacceptable,” likening the restrictions to apartheid.

“When we have now this virus everywhere, what is unacceptable is to have one part of the world that is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world economy condemned to a lockout, when they were the ones that revealed the existence of a new variant that, by the way, already existed in other parts of the world, including in Europe, as we know,” Guterres said during a news briefing in New York alongside African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat. 

South African scientists discovered the Omicron variant last week. It has since been identified in a growing number of countries including the United States, with scientists in the Netherlands confirming it was present in their country even before the South African announcement.

At the same Wednesday briefing, Faki Mahamat decried “stigmatization” of a vast swathe of the continent over the new variant. 

US health officials have argued that travel bans help to “buy time.”

Vaccine solidarity: Guterres also called for a global plan to help African countries produce Covid-19 vaccines. 

With only 6% percent of Africa’s population fully vaccinated, the people of the continent cannot be blamed for the “immorally low” level of vaccinations available to them, he said.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta will host a coronavirus town hall with special guest Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Watch live at 9 p.m. ET and submit your questions below:

Mutations found in the Omicron variant of Covid-19 may impact the effectiveness of Covid-19 antibody therapies, but there is not enough data to know yet, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Wednesday.

Murthy said more information is needed to know for sure.

“The only way we’ll know for sure is actually the test the monoclonal antibodies against the virus or pseudovirus in the laboratory. That’s the work that’s underway,” Murthy said.

Pseudoviruses are engineered viruses used to test the blood of volunteers in the lab.

More context: The surgeon general did say that two oral Covid-19 antiviral therapies may not be as affected by the mutations in the virus.

Pfizer and Merck have asked the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for pills that reduce the risk that people will develop severe disease or die from Covid-19.

“There’s still good reason to believe that the efficacy, the effectiveness of those oral medications may not be as significantly affected with this new variant,” Murthy said. “That’s sort of based on the biology of how they actually act against the virus,” he added.

Murthy added: “This is to say that there are reasons to be optimistic. There’s still ways we can protect ourselves.”

The United States’ first confirmed case of the Omicron coronavirus variant has been reported in California.

If you’re just reading in on today’s news about the variant, here’s a recap on how we got here:

Where it was first discovered: The Omicron strain was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in more than two dozen countries across the globe. You can find the most updated list of countries and their case counts here. 

How it entered the US: In a White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the first US Omicron case was detected in a person who traveled from South Africa to San Francisco on Nov. 22 and tested positive for Covid-19 on Nov. 29. The person was fully vaccinated and is experiencing “mild symptoms, which are improving at this point,” Fauci said.

Officials are urging people to get vaccinated and booster shots: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement Wednesday saying that the recent emergence of the Omicron variant “further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and general prevention strategies needed to protect against Covid-19.” It went on to say “everyone five and older should get vaccinated and boosters are recommended for everyone 18 years and older.”

Fauci advised in a briefing Wednesday to not wait for variant-specific boosters.

Want to learn more? CNN will host a global town hall and discuss the new Omicron coronavirus variant with Fauci tonight. Watch live at 9 p.m. ET.

The arrival of the Omicron variant is another reason for people to get vaccinated and for the vaccinated to get booster doses now, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

In a White House news briefing, Fauci announced the first US case of Omicron and said the case was in an individual who traveled from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive for Covid-19 on Nov. 29.

“I think what’s happening now is another example of why it’s important for people to get vaccinated,” Fauci told the news conference, adding that it was also important for vaccinated individuals to get their booster doses.

He said data shows antibody levels spike after a booster dose of any of the three vaccines authorized in the US.

“And that’s the reason why we feel even though we don’t have a lot of data on it, there’s every reason to believe that that kind of increase that you get with the boost would be helpful, at least in preventing severe disease of a variant like Omicron,” Fauci said.

“So right now, I would not be waiting. People say, ‘Well, if we’re going to have a booster-specific vaccine, should we wait?’ If you are eligible – think six months with a double mRNA dose or two months for the J&J – get boosted now. We may not need a variant-specific boost. We’re preparing for the possibility that we need a very specific boost and that’s what the companies are doing,” Fauci added.

“But the mistake people would make is to say, ‘Let me wait to see if we get one,’” he added.

The World Health Organization advised people in certain groups at a higher risk of contracting Covid-19, including the unvaccinated and those over 60, to postpone travel to areas with community spread, in response to the newly identified Omicron variant.

The organization also recommended that countries use a “multi-layered risk mitigation approach” to reducing spread, which it says can include passenger screening, Covid-19 testing and quarantines. 

“Blanket travel bans will not prevent international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” the WHO said, adding that travel bans can “disincentivize” countries to report cases of the variant when they appear. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that “no one feels” a travel ban will prevent the Omicron variant from arriving in the US, but that it was “needed to buy some time” for the country to prepare and understand the situation.

Fauci announced the first US case of the Omicron variant had been detected in the US, in a traveler who had arrived from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive Nov. 29. The traveler, who landed in California, had mild symptoms and was self-isolating.

The individual arrived before the US instituted measures aimed at slowing the entry of the new variant by limiting travel from several African nations. 

“But we needed to buy some time to be able to prepare, understand what’s going on,” added Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“What is the nature of this infection? What is the nature of the transmissibility? And we wanted to make sure that we didn’t all of a sudden say, ‘It’s like anything else, don’t worry about it,’ and then all of a sudden, something unfolds in front of you that you’re really not prepared for,” he added. “So we look at this is a temporary measure.”

San Francisco Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax said the identification of the United State’s first Omicron coronavirus variant case in the city “is cause for concern, but is also certainly not a cause for us to panic.”

Contacts to the individual have and are being notified by the city health department, he said.

Colfax said the city is “relatively well positioned” to respond to variants, and he pleaded with residents to get vaccinated and receive booster shots.

“Most experts that I have spoken to believe that the vaccines will still be of critical importance in protecting ourselves, our families and our community. So our message is the same as it was yesterday: To best protect against this variant, get vaccinated for goodness’ sakes, if you have not been vaccinated. Get your booster if you’re eligible. Continue to wear those masks inside where required,” he said.

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the US is prepared to meet the challenge of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 “with science and speed” upon its detection in the US Wednesday. 

Earlier today, the first confirmed case of the Omicron coronavirus variant was identified in California. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the case was in a person who traveled from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive for Covid-19 on Nov. 29.

That person, Fauci said, is self-quarantining and close contacts have tested negative for coronavirus so far.