Live: France’s tally of Omicron cases reaches nine, Australia reports first local transmissions

The Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa last week, and has since spread to dozens of countries worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the new strain poses a “very high” global risk, and has urged governments to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups.

Read FRANCE 24’s live coverage:

10:00 Paris time: Increasing numbers of young children suffering from Covid-19 in South Africa

Doctors in South Africa said Friday there had been a spike in hospitalisations among young children after Omicron swept through the country but stressed it was early to know if they were particularly susceptible.

In the week since South Africa alerted the world of the new Covid variant, infections have spread faster than in the country's three previous waves.

The first cluster of cases centred around university students, and then spread quicky among young people who seem to have spread it to older people.

But scientists and health officials said they had seen increasing hospital admissions in children under five, along with higher positivity rates among children aged 10-14.

Wassila Jassat, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said: "We've seen quite a sharp increase across all age groups, particularly in the under fives," referring to hospitalisations.

"The incidence in those under fives is now second-highest, and second only to the incidence in those over 60," she told a news conference.

09:45 Paris time: France’s ‘fifth wave’ of Covid-19 could hit high point in mid-January, health minister says

French Health Minister Olivier Véran said the current wave of the country's Covid-19 epidemic could peak in late January, with a renewed strain put on the country's hospital system.

"The fifth wave is spreading quickly ... It has a very noticeable impact on the hospital system," Véran told France Info radio.

France reported on Thursday more than 45,000 new infections of Covid-19 for the third day running.

08:40 Paris time: Australia reports first locally transmitted Omicron cases

Australia on Friday reported three students at a Sydney school have tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant, the country's first cases of community transmission of the new strain.

Health officials said there were 10 additional suspected Omicron cases at the school that are urgently being confirmed, raising the spectre of widespread infection.  

The cluster comes despite a ban on noncitizens entering the country and restrictions on flights from southern Africa, where the variant was first detected.

New South Wales Health said the first case had "no overseas travel history or links to people with overseas travel history" raising the alarm.

Australia had previously detected several other Omicron cases, but all were found in incoming travellers who quarantined.

04:40 Paris time: How one French lab is identifying cases of the new variant

On Thursday, France confirmed the first two cases of the Omicron variant on its mainland, adding to a previous case identified on the overseas territory of Réunion. With our colleagues at France 2, Jean-Emile Jammine looks at how one French lab is sequencing Covid-19 samples to identify cases of the new variant.

01:27

04:15 Paris time: Nepal to ban travellers from eight African countries, Hong Kong

Nepal will ban the entry of travellers who have been in eight African countries or Hong Kong to curb the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, a government spokesman said on Friday.

The ban, which goes into effect at midnight on Friday, covers people who have been in or were transiting through South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and Hong Kong.

Travellers who have been to these countries in the past three weeks will also not be allowed to enter Nepal, and all other international visitors already in transit must spend seven days at their own cost in hotel quarantine, the government said in a statement.

“Nepali nationals are advised against non-essential foreign travel for fear of the new variant,” home ministry spokesman Phanindra Pokharel told Reuters.

Government employees and delegates to international conferences must obtain prior permission for their visits.

03:55 Paris time: Biden announces measures to combat Omicron variant as new cases detected in New York, Hawaii

Urging the nation – in particular his political rivals – to unite behind the strategy, Biden unveiled a raft of actions designed to tamp down Covid-19 in the coming months, as the Omicron variant spreads worldwide.

Ten cases of the new strain have so far been confirmed in the United States, including five in New York announced Thursday evening by state Governor Kathy Hochul, one in the Pacific island state of Hawaii and a second case in California.

The Hawaii case and one in Minnesota both involved residents with no recent international travel history, signaling the strain is already circulating inside the country.

“This is a case of community spread. The individual has no history of travel,” the Hawaii health department said in a statement about the island’s confirmed Omicron case.

Biden’s updated actions include the requirement that all inbound international travellers be tested within one day of flying. This will apply to all travellers, both American and foreign, regardless of vaccination status, a US official said.

For domestic travellers, Biden will announce he is extending a mask mandate on airplanes, trains and other public transport through mid-March.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters testing and vaccine requirements could eventually be added to domestic flights too. “Nothing is off the table,” she said.

In addition to his public rollout, Biden penned a column for the Friday edition of the large-circulation USA Today national newspaper to assuage Americans’ “unease” about the new variant and Covid-19 in general.

“We will beat it back with science and speed, not chaos and confusion – just as we did in the spring and again with the more powerful delta variant in the summer and fall,” the president wrote.

Biden and his aides have recently stressed there will be no return to mass shutdowns. But the White House also faces the challenge that many Americans are not receptive to Biden’s appeals for collective action.

Despite ever-more creative attempts to encourage people to get their shots, about 40 percent of the country have yet to be fully vaccinated, and booster rates are lagging too.

Biden said a surge in outreach on vaccines and booster shots was being launched, with a nationwide campaign targeting recipients of Medicare public health care. The government will team up with AARP, a large lobbying group representing people aged 50 and over.

At the other end of the age scale, the Biden administration will try to ensure that schools do not return to mass lockdowns.

“We’re expanding our efforts to vaccinate children, ages five and up,” said Biden. “For any parent worried about the Omicron variant or the Delta variant, get your child vaccinated at one of the 35,000 locations in the country.”

In another bolstering of existing policies, the White House will encourage the use of home testing kits by announcing that health insurance must cover 100 percent of the cost.

For those without health insurance, there will be an increase in the availability of free kits.

The kits currently sell for around $25, as opposed to being available either for free or at nominal costs among peer nations in Europe.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, REUTERS)