Latest COVID updates: UK daily cases hit 200,000
People walk past the site of a temporary field hospital in the grounds of St George's Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in London, UK, January 2, 2022 [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]
By 4 Jan 2022
The government said on Tuesday it had logged 218,724 infections in the previous 24 hours, the highest daily total since the pandemic began – although it is a figure also was skewed by reporting lags during the holidays.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said that preliminary data from an Israeli study on the fourth coronavirus vaccine dose shows that it safely brings about a five-fold increase in antibodies that battle COVID-19.
More evidence is emerging that the Omicron coronavirus variant is causing milder symptoms than previous strains, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Nearly 300 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide during the past two years, and more than five million deaths have been reported.
The live blog is now closed; thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for January 4:
2 hours ago (22:43 GMT)
Meat processing industry in US weathering Omicron surge
The meat processing industry in the United States – which was hit hard by the spread of COVID-19 early in the pandemic – has weathered the recent surge in virus cases across the country without cutting production.
The latest numbers released by the US Department of Agriculture show beef and pork production running close to last year’s levels.
At the height of the outbreaks from March through June 2020, US meatpacking production fell to about 60 percent of its normal levels as several major plants were forced to temporarily close for deep cleaning and safety upgrades, or operated at slower speeds because so many workers became ill or had to quarantine.
3 hours ago (21:53 GMT)
Coronavirus infections rising in Mexican tourist areas
COVID-19 infections are rising in Mexico, especially in two states that are prominent tourist destinations.
According to data from the federal government published on Tuesday, Quintana Roo, home to the beach resort areas of Cancun, Tulum and other spots along the Mayan Riviera, and Baja California Sur, which draws beachgoers to the twin Pacific resorts that make up Los Cabos – are experiencing some of their highest infection rates since the start of the pandemic.
3 hours ago (21:15 GMT)
Omicron accounts for 95 percent of new infections in US
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published data on Tuesday estimating that the Omicron variant accounted for 95 percent of new coronavirus infections last week.
This marks a dramatic reversal. Beginning in late June and through the end of November, more than 99.5 percent of coronavirus cases were delta variant infections.
The CDC’s estimates are based on coronavirus specimens collected each week through university and commercial laboratories and state and local health departments. More than 2.2 million cases were reported in the last week in the US.
4 hours ago (20:35 GMT)
World cannot continue immunising every few months: vaccinologist
Speaking to Al Jazeera via Skype, vaccinologist Ali Fattom of the University of Michigan said he believes countries cannot continue to “immunise every three months” and have to allow the vaccines to work.
“The vaccine needs to build memory and that memory takes more than three months to build,” he told Al Jazeera.
“And therefore, each and every time that we have a little bit memory and we’re boosting, we’re not establishing memory that can be triggered upon exposure.”
4 hours ago (20:10 GMT)
Biden pledges to improve testing capacity as US cases hit record high
US President Joe Biden has again urged Americans to get vaccinated – and pledged to tackle shortages for coronavirus tests as the spread of the Omicron variant intensifies.
Biden stressed that vaccines, booster shots and therapeutic drugs have mitigated the danger for most Americans who are fully vaccinated, and that the US government had enough vaccines and booster shots for all citizens.
“There’s no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated,” Biden said.
“This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”More than one million Americans tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, the highest daily total since the pandemic began. Given those numbers, Biden has faced serious criticism over a lack of testing capacity.
“We’re making improvements,” Biden said, acknowledging the situation is “frustrating”.
The White House has said that it would make 500 million rapid antigen tests available free, but it will be weeks, if not months, before those tests are widely available.
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