Health News Roundup: England and Wales report 137,583 COVID-19 cases on Sunday; Daily COVID cases in Saudi Arabia above 1,000, continue to climb in UAE and more

"We want to maximise the number of children in school and college for the maximum amount of time," he said in an article in the Sunday Telegraph. Israel to offer fourth COVID vaccine shot to over 60s, medical staff Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel would offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff as it faces a surge in Omicron variant infections.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 03-01-2022 02:31 IST | Created: 03-01-2022 02:29 IST
Health News Roundup: England and Wales report 137,583 COVID-19 cases on Sunday; Daily COVID cases in Saudi Arabia above 1,000, continue to climb in UAE and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

German hospitals hope Omicron - as milder variant - could ease burden

The Omicron coronavirus variant could ease pressure on the German health system if it turns out to produce milder illness, even though infections are rising, the head of the country's association of senior hospital doctors (VLK) said on Sunday. VLK President Michael Weber said coronavirus would no longer be a threat to the health system if Omicron became as dominant in Germany as it is in South Africa, Britain or Denmark and if the infections are as predominantly mild as there.

Israel approves fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for people over 60 and medical staff

Israel will offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday amid a surge in Omicron variant infections, saying the country's top medical officer had approved the shot.

England and Wales report 137,583 COVID-19 cases on Sunday

Britain reported 137,583 new cases of COVID-19 in England and Wales on Sunday, compared with 162,572 cases in England on Saturday, according to government data. There were 73 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in England and Wales, a drop on the 154 reported in England on Saturday.

Daily COVID cases in Saudi Arabia above 1,000, continue to climb in UAE

Daily coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia have climbed above 1,000 for the first time since August, while daily infections in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) haven crossed the 2,500-level. Authorities in the two Gulf Arab states did not break down the cases by COVID-19 variant. Both countries confirmed their first known case of the Omicron variant in early December.

Unvaccinated U.S. travellers added to French quarantine list

France has put the United States on its COVID-19 travel "red list", meaning unvaccinated people coming into the country will have to quarantine for 10 days. The rules will not change for fully vaccinated people coming into France from the United States: they still have to show proof of a negative test before boarding their flight.

Fauci warns of danger of hospitalization surge due to large number of COVID cases

Top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said there was still a danger of a surge in hospitalization due to a large number of coronavirus cases even as early data suggests the Omicron COVID-19 variant is less severe. "The only difficulty is that if you have so many cases, even if the rate of hospitalization is lower with Omicron than it is with Delta, there is still the danger that you will have a surging of hospitalizations that might stress the healthcare system," Fauci said in an interview on Sunday with CNN.

English school children to wear masks to tackle Omicron surge

Children in secondary schools in England will be told to wear face coverings when they return after the Christmas holiday next week to tackle a surge in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday. "We want to maximise the number of children in school and college for the maximum amount of time," he said in an article in the Sunday Telegraph.

Israel to offer fourth COVID vaccine shot to over 60s, medical staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel would offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff as it faces a surge in Omicron variant infections. Israel last week approved a fourth dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, a second booster, for people who are immune-compromised and the elderly living in care homes.

France reports close to 60,000 new daily COVID cases

France on Sunday reported 58,432 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, a figure much lower than the previous four days, when daily additional infections were over 200,000, On days following a public holiday - as New Year's Day was - new reported cases tend to dip, so the sharp drop does not necessarily indicate a change of trend.

Italy reports 61,046 coronavirus cases on Sunday, 133 deaths

Italy reported 61,046 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday following 141,262 the day before, the health ministry said, reflecting a steep drop in the number of tests, while the daily tally of COVID-related deaths rose to 133 from 111. Italy has registered 137,646 deaths linked to the virus since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, and has reported 6.328 million cases to date.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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