Health News Roundup: Israel to admit some foreigners with presumed COVID immunity from Jan 9; India launches drive to vaccinate children and more

Governor Yuriko Koike said Tokyo had 25 cases of Omicron, of which 11 were possibly transmitted within the community, Kyodo News reported. Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus Many U.S. schools are delaying their start dates, scrambling to test pupils and teachers and preparing, as a last resort, to return to remote learning as record COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant sweep the country, while India started vaccinating children aged 15 to 18 as it expands its inoculation effort to cover the world's largest adolescent population.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Israel to admit some foreigners with presumed COVID immunity from Jan 9

Israel said on Monday it will admit foreigners with presumed COVID-19 immunity from countries deemed medium-risk as of Jan. 9, partially reversing a ban on entry by foreigners imposed in late November in response to the fast-spreading Omicron variant. The Health Ministry said on Monday that travellers from 199 countries Israel has designated "orange" would have to prove in advance they are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 and would be subject to PCR testing before and after arrival.

India launches drive to vaccinate children

India started vaccinating children aged 15 to 18 against the coronavirus on Monday as it expands its inoculation effort to protect the world's largest adolescent population. Authorities on Monday reported 33,750 new COVID-19 cases and 123 deaths. The total number of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant detected in India was 1,700, the health ministry said.

Omicron evades immunity better than Delta, Danish study finds

The Omicron coronavirus variant is better at circumventing vaccinated peoples' immunity than the Delta variant, according to a Danish study published last week, helping explain why Omicron is spreading more rapidly. Since the discovery of the heavily mutated Omicron variant in November, scientists have been racing to find out whether it causes less serious disease and why it appears more contagious than the previously dominating Delta variant.

Passengers leave COVID-hit cruise ship after 5 days stuck in Lisbon

Disconsolate passengers stuck on a cruise ship moored in Lisbon's port for five days due to a COVID-19 outbreak began disembarking early on Monday, focused on clearing the final hurdle of a negative test before boarding homebound flights. The AIDAnova, carrying 2,844 passengers and 1,353 crew, had docked in Portugal's capital on Wednesday.

Australia to push ahead with reopening amid record COVID-19 cases

Australia's government said the milder impact of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 meant the country could push ahead with plans to reopen the economy even as new infections hit a record of more than 37,000 and the number of people hospitalised rose. Record daily case numbers were reported on Monday in the states of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.

Omicron lurks behind rising infections in Tokyo, new cases most since October

The fast spreading Omicron variant lurked behind rising coronavirus infections in Tokyo, where new cases rose to 103 on Monday, up from 84 the previous day and the highest since Oct. 8. Governor Yuriko Koike said Tokyo had 25 cases of Omicron, of which 11 were possibly transmitted within the community, Kyodo News reported.

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Many U.S. schools are delaying their start dates, scrambling to test pupils and teachers and preparing, as a last resort, to return to remote learning as record COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant sweep the country, while India started vaccinating children aged 15 to 18 as it expands its inoculation effort to cover the world's largest adolescent population. EUROPE

Belgium agrees to buy 10,000 courses each of Pfizer, Merck COVID-19 pills

Belgium has agreed to buy 10,000 courses each of the COVID-19 antiviral oral treatments developed by Pfizer and Merck & CO, a spokesman for the health ministry told Reuters in an emailed statement on Monday. Governments around the world are scrambling to buy Paxlovid, the pill developed by Pfizer.

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.

Omicron teaches hard lessons as U.S. schools revamp return from holidays

Many U.S. schools that would normally welcome students back to classrooms on Monday are delaying their start dates, scrambling to test pupils and teachers and preparing, as a last resort, to return to remote learning as record COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant sweep the country. In Washington, D.C., all staff and 51,000 public school students must upload a negative test result to the district's website before coming to class on Wednesday. Tests administered before Tuesday will not be accepted. Parents can pick up rapid tests at their school or use their own.

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