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The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to boost healthcare capacity and vaccinate their people to fight a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant, saying that travel curbs could buy time but alone were not the answer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to boost healthcare capacity and vaccinate their people to fight a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant, saying that travel curbs could buy time but alone were not the answer. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* South Africa is facing an "unprecedented rise" in new cases over a short time due to the Omicron variant, top scientist Michelle Groome of South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases said. * Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said some of the four diplomats who first tested positive for the Omicron variant in the country had come from Europe, calling for a reversal of widespread travel bans imposed against southern African countries.

EUROPE * The prevalence of infections in England rose to around 1 in 60 people in the week ending Nov. 27, Britain's Office for National Statistics said, led higher by the dominant Delta variant rather than newly identified Omicron.

* The European Union's public health agency said on Thursday the Omicron variant could be responsible for more than half of all infections in Europe within a few months, but no cases of severe disease had yet been identified in the region. AMERICAS

* New York has confirmed five cases of the Omicron variant, its governor said on Thursday, bringing to five the number of U.S. states having detected the variant, with 10 reported infections nationwide. ASIA-PACIFIC

* Asia-Pacific countries should boost their healthcare capacity and fully vaccinate their people to prepare for a surge in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, officials at the WHO said. * India expects the Omicron variant to cause less severe disease, the health ministry said, thanks to vaccinations and high prior exposure to the Delta variant that infected nearly 70% of the population by July.

* Australia reported its first community transmission of the new Omicron variant, but authorities held steady on a plan to reopen the economy amid hopes it would prove to be milder than previous strains. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENT

* The Omicron variant is very transmissible but people should not panic about it, the WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the Reuters Next conference. * * Makers of COVID-19 vaccines should gear up for the "likelihood" of needing to adjust their products to protect against the Omicron variant, the WHO spokesperson said.

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is setting up guidelines to expedite reviews of COVID-19 vaccines and drugs targeting the Omicron variant, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. * Germany's BioNTech, should be able to adapt its coronavirus vaccine relatively quickly in response to the Omicron variant, its CEO Ugur Sahin said, adding that despite the mutation shots should continue to protect people against severe disease.

* The likelihood that people will need to have an annual COVID-19 vaccine, similar to the influenza shot, is increasing, Sahin told the Reuters Next conference. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Stocks markets wavered on Friday, with European shares just holding onto gains as the possibility of more COVID-linked activity curbs and an accelerated pace of stimulus tapering by the U.S. Federal Reserve kept investors on edge. * Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders, who voted for an interest rate hike last month, said he wanted more information about the impact of the new Omicron variant before deciding how to vote this month.

* The Omicron variant threatens to fuel soaring inflation in the United States by further pressuring supply chains and worsening worker shortages, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester told the Financial Times. (Compiled by Federico Maccioni and Rashmi Aich; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Louise Heavens)

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