As Omicron Generates New Cases On Covid-19 In US, Growing Evidence In UK Suggests It Is Softer

Federal authorities have recommended people take safety precautions such as testing before gatherings or wearing masks in indoor public places, regardless of immunization status.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that attendance at the city’s annual New Year’s celebration in Times Square would be limited to 15,000 people, compared to an average of 58,000.

In addition, participants will be required to wear masks and show that they are fully vaccinated and cannot begin to assemble until 3 p.m.

The New York City Department of Health reported on Thursday that the seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases was 12,613, compared with a 28-day average of 5,280. New York state officials reported 38,835 new infections, breaking the daily record for cases for the sixth time in the past seven days.

Los Angeles County reported 8,633 new cases of Covid on Thursday, up from 6,509 cases on Wednesday and 3,360 new cases last Friday. The seven-day test positive rate in America’s most populous county, with 10 million people, is 6.6%, up from 2.0% at the end of last week.

“If our number of cases continues to increase at a rapid rate over the next week, we may be looking at numbers of cases we have never seen before, well over 20,000 cases per day by the end. of this year, “Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director, said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has demanded that state health care workers, as well as those working in congregational facilities such as nursing homes, receive booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine before the 1st. February.

Reports of an increase in the number of US cases come as new evidence emerged in the UK on Thursday that the Omicron variant causes less serious illness than earlier variants in populations with significant immunity.

The British study found that people infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus are between 50% and 70% less likely to be hospitalized than those who caught previous strains.

The analysis, released Thursday by the UK Health Security Agency, follows studies in Scotland and South Africa that also found a significantly lower risk of hospitalization with Omicron than with previously established variants, including Delta.

Studies published on Wednesday suggest that Omicron was on average causing milder disease than previous variants, although this advantage may be offset by its faster spread.

Real-world studies are promising signs that immunity from vaccination or previous infection helps prevent serious illness from the rapidly spreading variant.

In Europe, additional measures have been put in place to contain an increase in Omicron cases.

Belgium plans to tighten restrictions on coronaviruses, including closing cinemas and theaters, from December 26. Indoor activities will be largely banned with a few exceptions, including museum visits, exercises, weddings and funerals. Sporting events will take place without spectators.

Bars and restaurants can stay open until 11 p.m.

Health officials said the Omicron variant was spreading rapidly and accounted for 27% of infections. In neighboring Netherlands, the government imposed a new confinement last weekend.

The Spanish government reintroduced an outdoor mask mandate this week amid an upsurge in infections. The Italian government followed suit on Thursday, the same day the country reported its highest number of daily infections since the start of the pandemic. The government also banned until February all celebrations in town squares, one of the pillars of the country’s holiday season.

Omicron accounts for around 30% of new confirmed Covid-19 infections in Italy, according to public health officials. The variant is expected to overtake Delta as the dominant strain there soon.

In a less encouraging finding, the UK study on Thursday also found that the effectiveness of a booster dose in preventing mild symptoms with Omicron appeared to wane over time, although it said boosters should still protect. against serious illnesses.

The agency said that after 10 weeks, the effectiveness of the vaccine against the symptomatic disease after a third dose of the vaccine developed by

Pfizer Inc.

and Germany

BioNTech SE

fell to 45%, from 70% previously, in those who received Pfizer as the main two-dose treatment.

Meanwhile, new lab studies have found a third injection of the Covid-19 vaccine from

AstraZeneca

PLC and Oxford University have increased antibody protection against Omicron, which has been widely shown to significantly weaken the effectiveness of shots.

The studies, which have not been peer reviewed, suggest that the AstraZeneca vaccine may prove useful as a booster vaccine in low- and middle-income countries that have depended heavily on the vaccine. Wealthier countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have favored vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. with BioNTech SE, and

Modern Inc.

in their recall campaigns.

One of the studies conducted by researchers at Oxford, independent of the developers, found that the immune protection of Omicron one month after a third dose of AstraZeneca largely matched the level of protection against the once dominant Delta strain one month after. two doses of AstraZeneca.

However, the protective enhancement of a third dose of the AstraZeneca shot against Omicron was significantly less than that of a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, preliminary results showed.

—Ian Lovett, Jimmy Vielkind, James Marson, and Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Jason Douglas at [email protected], Eric Sylvers at [email protected] and Jenny Strasbourg at [email protected]