Here's the latest from around the world overnight.
Europe
UK
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a new COVID-19 lockdown was unlikely despite worries about the new Omicron coronavirus variant, after eight new cases were identified in England, taking the total number to 13.
The Omicron coronavirus variant is raising concern worldwide because of a high number of mutations compared with other variants, which might help it evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination.
"I think another lockdown of the kind that we've had before is extremely unlikely," Johnson told a press conference. "But we keep everything under constant review."
Italy
Italy reported 89 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 65 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 12,764 from 7,975.
Italy has registered 133,828 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 5.03 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 5,227 on Tuesday, up from 5,135 a day earlier.
There were 64 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 58 on Monday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 683 from a previous 669.
Some 719,972 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with the previous 276,000, the health ministry said.
Netherlands
The COVID-19 Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from South Africa last week carrying the virus, Dutch health officials said on Tuesday.
At least 14 people on flights from Johannesburg and Capetown arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Nov. 26 carrying the new variant, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.
"We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on Nov. 19 and Nov. 23," the RIVM said. "It is not clear yet whether these people have visited Southern Africa."
Ukraine
Ukraine has introduced mandatory 14-day self-isolation for travellers returning from countries where the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected, the health ministry said on Monday.
"...Travellers who have spent more than 7 days in the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Kingdom of Eswatini, and the Republic of Mozambique must complete 14 days of self-isolation," it said in a statement, adding that the list would be expanded soon.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko told a televised briefing earlier on Monday that cases of the Omicron variant had not been registered in Ukraine yet.
Germany
Olaf Scholz, who is set to take over as German chancellor next week, supports making vaccination against COVID-19 compulsory and backs barring the unvaccinated from non-essential stores, sources said on Tuesday.
Scholz and outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel were meeting regional leaders on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to soaring infections in a fourth wave of the pandemic.
According to sources with information about the discussion, Scholz told the meeting he was in favour of a cross-party initiative to make vaccines mandatory, with the hope that it could be put into practice by the end of February.
States ruled by the opposition conservatives also want agreement to close bars and nightclubs and also limit meetings of the unvaccinated to a maximum of five people from two households, according to draft proposals obtained by Reuters.
However, sources close to Scholz's Social Democrats, have said they do not expect any concrete decisions at Tuesday's meeting.
Asia-Pacific
Australia
Australian authorities on Tuesday confirmed a person with COVID-19 had the new Omicron variant after disclosing that the person had been active in the community, but urged calm as they weighed up the severity of the strain.
The fully vaccinated person visited a busy shopping centre in Sydney while likely infectious, officials said. All passengers in the person's flight were asked to self-isolate for 14 days regardless of their vaccination status.
The additional case brings Australia's total number of infections with the new variant to six. But it is the first case where the person appeared to be active in the community. All other cases have been in quarantine and are asymptomatic or display very mild symptoms.
Authorities also said urgent genomic tests have begun to determine whether two other positive cases on the same flight were infected with the Omicron variant.
Singapore
Singapore will hold off on more reopening measures while it evaluates the Omicron COVID-19 variant and will increase testing of travelers and frontline workers to reduce the risk of local transmission, authorities said on Tuesday.
A quarantine-free entry policy for vaccinated arrivals in the Asian financial and travel hub will not be extended to more countries for now, while current social distancing measures will remain in place, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said.
"This is a prudent thing to do for now, when we are faced with a major uncertainty," Ong told a media briefing, adding the variant had not yet been detected locally.
Singapore will be prioritising use of COVID-19 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests produced by Thermo Fisher (TMO.N) on travelers. Thermo Fisher said it is able to detect the Omicron variant.
Any Omicron cases found in Singapore will be placed in government healthcare facilities rather than the home isolation so far used for mild COVID-19 cases.
Americas
Canada
A further two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Ottawa, bringing Canada's total number of cases to five, Ottawa Public Health said late on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Quebec discovered its first COVID-19 case of the variant, health officials said.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube also told reporters that 115 travelers coming from countries affected by the new variant, primarily South Africa, were called and asked to isolate and test for COVID-19.
Quebec's first case was a recent traveler to Nigeria, public health director Horacio Arruda said, similar to the two cases reported on Sunday by Ontario province.
US
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday everyone aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot, as it looks to tackle a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus that is quickly spreading across the globe.
The update comes after President Joe Biden on Monday called for wider vaccination to curb the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which was first detected in southern Africa.
The US health regulators last week expanded the eligibility for booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines to all adults aged 18 and older either six months after their initial Pfizer (PFE.N) or Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccine doses or two months after their Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) shot.
The CDC had, however, stopped short of saying all adults aged 18 to 49 should get the additional shots.
Mexico
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that there was no reason to worry in Mexico about the new COVID-19 variant omicron.
Speaking in his regular morning news conference, he added that there was no information that existing vaccines are not effective against new variant.
Vaccines and treatment
BioNTech and Pfizer's established COVID-19 vaccine will likely offer strong protection against any severe disease from the new Omicron virus variant, BioNTech's Chief Executive told Reuters.
Lab tests are underway over the next two weeks to analyse the blood of people who had two or three doses of BioNTech's Comirnaty vaccine to see if antibodies found in that blood inactivate Omicron, potentially shedding light on whether new vaccines are needed.
"We think it's likely that people will have substantial protection against severe disease caused by Omicron," said BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin. He specified severe disease as requiring hospital or intensive care.
Sahin told Reuters he expects the lab tests to show some loss of vaccine protection against mild and moderate disease due to Omicron, but the extent of that loss was hard to predict.
The biotech firm is speedily working on an upgraded version of its vaccine, although it remains unclear whether that is needed, he added.
Sahin said getting a third vaccine shot known as booster will likely confer a layer of protection against Omicron infection of any severity compared to those with just the initial two-shot course.
"To my mind there's no reason to be particularly worried. The only thing that worries me at the moment is the fact that there are people that have not been vaccinated at all," Sahin added.
BioNTech's guarded confidence contrasts with a sense of alarm conveyed by the chief executive of rival vaccine maker Moderna, Stephane Bancel.
In a Financial Times interview, he raised the prospect of a material drop in protection against the new coronavirus lineage from current vaccines, sparking fresh worry in financial markets about the trajectory of the pandemic.
Reuters
