Reuters Health News Summary

The world's second-worst affected country by the pandemic had only Friday decided to resume https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-tighten-covid-19-testing-tourists-amid-new-variant-concerns-2021-11-26 international passenger flights from countries deemed "at risk" of the coronavirus, while ordering tightened border screening. UK takes new measures to slow Omicron coronavirus variant Britain announced new measures on Saturday to try to slow the spread of the newly identified Omicron coronavirus variant and a top health official said there was a "reasonable chance" that vaccines could be less effective against it.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Two Omicron coronavirus cases found in Germany

Two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in the southern German state of Bavaria and a suspected case found in the west of the country, health officials said on Saturday. The two people with the variant entered Germany at Munich airport on Nov. 24, before South Africa was designated a virus-variant area, and were now isolating, said Bavaria's health ministry, without saying explicitly that they had come from South Africa.

S.Africa says it is being punished for early COVID variant detection

South Africa said on Saturday it was being punished for its advanced ability to detect new COVID-19 variants early, as travel bans and restrictions imposed because of the new Omicron variant threaten to harm tourism and other sectors of the economy. South Africa has some of the world's top epidemiologists and scientists, who have managed to detect emerging coronavirus variants and their mutations early on in their life cycle. The Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

India's Modi orders review of reopening on Omicron COVID concerns

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told officials on Saturday to review plans to ease travel restrictions as concerns rise over the new Omicron https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-tighten-border-controls-s-africa-others-new-virus-variant-jiji-2021-11-26 variant of COVID-19. The world's second-worst affected country by the pandemic had only Friday decided to resume https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-tighten-covid-19-testing-tourists-amid-new-variant-concerns-2021-11-26 international passenger flights from countries deemed "at risk" of the coronavirus, while ordering tightened border screening.

UK takes new measures to slow Omicron coronavirus variant

Britain announced new measures on Saturday to try to slow the spread of the newly identified Omicron coronavirus variant and a top health official said there was a "reasonable chance" that vaccines could be less effective against it. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said arrivals from all countries would have to self-isolate until receiving a negative result from a PCR test, that face masks must be worn in retail settings and it was time to step up booster jabs.

Colombia extends health emergency citing new coronavirus variant

Colombia will extend its health state of emergency until Feb. 28 due to the emergence of a new coronavirus strain in South Africa, the Andean country's President Ivan Duque said on Saturday. The health emergency "is extended due to the existence of a global declaration concerning the status of the pandemic as well as allowing us to continue taking all precautionary measures," Duque said from Monteria, a city in the country's province of Cordoba.

Dutch: Some of the 61 COVID cases from South Africa flights are new variant

Dutch health authorities said on Saturday they had detected 61 COVID-19 cases among people who flew from South Africa on Friday and believe at least some infections are of the new omicron variant. The cases were discovered among 624 passengers who arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on two flights on Friday before the Dutch government restricted air traffic from southern Africa due to concerns over the variant. https://www.reuters.com/world/how-worried-should-we-be-about-omicron-variant-2021-11-27

Explainer-How worried should we be about the Omicron variant?

The new Omicron coronavirus variant - identified first in South Africa, but also detected in Europe and Asia - is raising concern worldwide given the number of mutations, which might help it spread or even evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination. News of the variant prompted countries to announce new travel restrictions on Friday and sent drugmakers scrambling to see if their COVID-19 vaccines remain protective.

Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna expect data on shot's protection against new COVID-19 variant soon

BioNTech SE said on Friday it expects more data on a worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa within two weeks to help determine whether its vaccine produced with partner Pfizer Inc would have to be reworked. Pfizer and BioNTech said that if necessary they expect to be able to ship a new vaccine tailored to the emerging variant in approximately 100 days.

UK, Germany and Italy detect Omicron coronavirus variant cases

Britain, Germany and Italy detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic.

Italy reports 90 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, 12,877 new cases

Italy reported 90 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 51 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 12,877 from 13,686. Italy has registered 133,627 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 4.99 million cases to date.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)