Christmas plans in limbo as global COVID cases spike

Coronavirus cases are continuing to spike right around the world, as authorities expect Omicron to become the dominant strain in most countries.

However, there’s some good news for South Africa, with the South African Medical Association now saying the country is “over the curve” of new Omicron infections.

The Association also says the new variant has not caused the death rate to spike, and disease is much less severe than that seen in Delta cases.

In the United Kingdom, Prime minister Boris Johnson warns the situation is “extremely difficult” but no new measures will be imposed for now.

Is the UK heading backwards?

Britain recorded a further 91,000 new coronavirus cases within the past 24 hours.

Johnson says the data is being reviewed hour by hour as the arguments for tighter restrictions are “finely balanced”

Britain’s main nurses’ union has warned that exhaustion and surging COVID cases among medical staff are pushing them to the breaking point, adding to pressure on the government for new restrictions to curb record numbers of infections driven by the Omicron variant.

Many governments within the EU and the US are confronting similar dilemmas over how hard to come down in the face of Omicron, which appears more transmissible than the previous delta variant that itself led to surges in many parts of the world.Early evidence suggests Omicron may also produce less serious illness — though scientists caution it is too soon to say — and that it could better evade vaccine protection.