LONDON: Britain’s beleaguered travel industry called on Tuesday for government assistance to soften the blow of the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said that the latest travel curbs, rolled out on Tuesday to try to prevent transmission, risked holiday firms going bust. “As additional travel restrictions come … Read more
NEW YORK – New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday announced a blanket Covid-19 vaccine mandate for the private sector in the United States’ biggest city, starting from late December. The order goes further than a nationwide mandate set by President Joe Biden for companies with more than 100 employees to vaccinate workers by … Read more
HOEDSPRUIT – Sabine Stam didn’t expect to have her feet up, sipping white wine on the deck of a half-empty safari lodge near South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Her tour company was full of bookings for the December peak season. Then Omicron came. First reported by South African scientists to the World Health Organization on … Read more
The United States and Australia announced their first locally transmitted cases of the Omicron variant as authorities worldwide rushed Friday to stem the spread of the heavily mutated strain of Covid-19. The World Health Organization has said it could take weeks to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and whether it causes more severe infections … Read more
WASHINGTON: Just as it was recovering from the body blow of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy has taken yet another hit from the omicron variant of the virus, which has led to a raft of new travel restrictions. First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the … Read more
LONDON – European equities fell in opening deals on Tuesday after the head of Moderna warned current coronavirus vaccines might be less effective at fending off the Omicron variant. In initial trade, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index reversed 0.9 percent to 7,047.14 points. In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX shed 0.9 percent to 15,137.86 points and … Read more
GENEVA: Amid a global alert over the new Omicron variant, Pakistan has called for a fully equipped and adequately resourced global health security framework that responds effectively to future pandemics. Speaking during a special three-day meeting of the World Health Organization’s governing body on Monday, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Offices in Geneva, Khalil … Read more
