Omicron ‘spreading at lightning speed’ in Europe amid global concerns over ‘tidal wave’ of infections

Omicron variant ‘spreading at lightning speed’ in Europe, warns French PM Jean Castex

Markets have been hit by Omicron fears all week (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

US health officials have warned that a “tidal wave” of Omicron is likely to crash upon the country’s hospitals as France said the new coronavirus variant is now suspected to be responsible for up to 10% of new confirmed cases in the country.

“GET BOOSTED NOW. Tidal wave of Omicron likely coming to a hospital near you soon,” Dr Tom Frieden, former chief of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tweeted.

A Reuters tally suggested that hospitalisations for Covid-19 jumped 45 per cent over the last month and confirmed cases have increased 40 per cent to a weeklong average of 123,000 new infections a day.

New York reported a record 21,000 people testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday for the previous day. The US is looking at a grim winter with several cancellations of holiday events as public health officials warned that Omicron is likely to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the country.

The National Football League rescheduled three weekend games and the National Hockey League added another game to its recent list of postponements. In New York City, Radio City Music Hall announced it has canceled all remaining dates of the Rockettes’ annual Christmas Spectacular “due to increasing challenges from the pandemic.”

The Omicron variant is “spreading at lightning speed” in Europe, warned French Prime Minister Jean Castex as health Minister Olivier Veran said he expected authorities to give the green light to vaccinations of children aged 5 to 11 starting early next week.

His comments came on Friday as France imposed stringent travel restrictions on people coming to the country from the United Kingdom, where prime minister Boris Johnson has warned that the Omicron variant is “a very serious threat to us now”. The UK reported nearly 15,00 Omicron cases.

Mr Veran said he hoped that voluntary vaccination for all children could start on 22 December. Elsewhere in the world, the Omicron infections continued to rise, with India reporting 111 cases after the highest single-day jump of 24 cases on Friday. The Indian government’s Covid task force warned of 1400,000 daily infections in a grim prognosis of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, Egyptian and Ukrainian health authorities said they identified their country’s first cases of the highly transmissible variant. Three people were found to have the variant among 26 travellers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport, the health ministry said in a statement.

Omicron’s extraordinary level of infectiousness means it could cause many additional deaths, the top US infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, told CNBC on Friday.

“When you have a larger number of people getting infected, the total amount of hospitalisations is going to be more. That’s just simple math,” Fauci said.

(With inputs from agencies)