Health News Roundup: U.S. administers 470.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC; S.Korea reports 3 more Omicron cases and more

Germany has been reticent about making vaccines compulsory for fear of exacerbating a shortage of medical and nursing home staff, but support has grown for the idea as the country has faced surging infections in a fourth wave of the pandemic. Omicron variant found in at least 15 U.S. states -CDC chief The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been found in about 15 U.S. states so far, but the Delta variant remains the majority of COVID-19 cases nationwide, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. administers 470.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC

The United States had administered 470,297,846 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 580,417,105 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The number of doses administered was up from 468,516,782 as reported on Saturday, the CDC said.

S.Korea reports 3 more Omicron cases

South Korea on Sunday reported three more Omicron coronavirus variant cases, bringing its total confirmed so far to 12, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It reported 5,128 new COVID-19 cases for Saturday, a slight decline after reporting a record daily tally of 5,352 a day earlier.

Omicron variant found in nearly one-third of U.S. states

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread to about one-third of U.S. states, but the Delta version remains the majority of COVID-19 infections as cases rise nationwide, U.S. health officials said on Sunday. Though the emergence of the new variant has caused alarm worldwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, told CNN "thus far it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it." He added that it was too early to draw definitive conclusions and that more study is needed.

Germany plans to make vaccination compulsory for some jobs - draft

The incoming German government wants to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory from March 16 for people working in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical practices, according to a copy of draft legislation seen by Reuters on Sunday. Germany has been reticent about making vaccines compulsory for fear of exacerbating a shortage of medical and nursing home staff, but support has grown for the idea as the country has faced surging infections in a fourth wave of the pandemic.

Omicron variant found in at least 15 U.S. states -CDC chief

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been found in about 15 U.S. states so far, but the Delta variant remains the majority of COVID-19 cases nationwide, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday. "We know we have several dozen cases and we're following them closely. And we are every day hearing about more and more probable cases so that number is likely to rise," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News in an interview, adding more data is still needed.

Thailand detects first potential case of Omicron variant

Thailand has detected its first potential case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a senior health official said on Monday. The case, which is still awaiting the result of a second test, was identified as a male U.S. citizen who had traveled to Thailand from Spain at the end of November, Supakit Sirilak, the Director-General of the Medical Science Department, told a news conference.

India detects seven more Omicron cases, making 12 in all

India's tally of reported cases of the heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus rose to 12 on Sunday after the state of Maharashtra said it had detected seven new cases. Local media also said a new case had been reported in New Delhi.

Jordan court jails health officials over COVID-19 oxygen deaths

A Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in jail on Sunday for causing the death of 10 COVID-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a major state hospital, state media said. The court found the former director of the state hospital in Salt, a city west of the capital, and four of his senior aides responsible for the deaths, the media said. The patients, who were being treated in the hospital, died in March when staff failed to act after oxygen ran out in a COVID-19 ward for nearly an hour.

'Extreme' vaccine discrimination risks leaving Africa behind - report

Africa has little chance of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic unless 70% of its population is vaccinated by end-2022, yet "extreme vaccine discrimination" is leaving the continent behind, a report published on Monday said. The discovery of the Omicron variant in southern Africa has heightened claims that low inoculation rates can encourage viral mutations, which can then spread to countries where rates are much higher.

UK reports 86 new cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant, total 246

Britain's health security agency on Sunday reported 86 new cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, taking the total number identified so far to 246.

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