Germany needs 15 million more boosters to slow omicron

Berlin, Jan 05: Germany needs to inoculate an additional 15 million people with booster shots to put a brake on the rising omicron caseload, the country's health minister said in comments published on Wednesday.

Karl Lauterbach told the RND group of newspapers that modeling by the Robert Koch Institute for public health showed that over 80% of people who had already received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine would need a third.

Germany has administered two doses to nearly 59.3 million people and some 32.7 million have also had a booster.

Lauterbach said that measures restricting contacts, combined with an

effort to get a booster dispensation of 80%, would slow down the spread of omicron.

"This will make it difficult for omicron," Lauterbach told RND. "Booster vaccination is the best protection against omicron."

Asia

Health officials in Hong Kong began a city-wide hunt for the contact history of a COVID-19 patient and called a Royal Caribbean "cruise to nowhere" ship back to port early.

Wednesday's search was prompted when a hunt was sparked by a patient who danced with

some 20 friends in a central park on New Year's Eve.

Hong Kong reported its first case of domestic transmission of the omicron variant on December 31 after a three-month lull.

The authorities have traced and tested hundreds of people who had been in contact with omicron patients since then.

Japan is gearing up to declare a quasi-state of emergency in the Okinawa prefecture amid rising coronavirus numbers, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Wednesday, adding that it could be imposed as early as this week.

On September 30, Japan had called off all states of emergency and quasi-emergency that had been in place for a considerable time in 2021.

COVID-19 infections in the country crossed the 1,000 mark on Tuesday for the first time in over three months.

Okinawa is among the worst-affected parts of the nation.

On Wednesday, new infections in the prefecture rose to 600, Okinawa Television reported, citing the region's government.

Europe

In a harsh remark that triggered condemnation from the opposition, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he wanted to make life diffucult the non-vaccinated, using the French word emmerder that might be euphemistically translated as "piss off," though in fact it refers to feces not urine.

"The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so, we're going to continue doing so, until the end. That's the strategy," Macron told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview published late Tuesday. However, Macron also said he had no plans for obligatory vaccination and that this was the alternative path he would pursue.

He said it would entail "limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life."

Last year, France had implemented a health pass that stopped people without a COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination from accessing restaurants, cafes and other social venues.

The government intends to turn it into a vaccine passport, meaning only the vaccinated can have a health pass.

"I won't send [the unvaccinated] to prison, I won't vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from January 15, you won't be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won't be able

to down one, won't be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema," Macron said.

Oceania

Australia's health system was burdened on Wednesday as new infections reached a record high for the third consecutive day.

Pressure is building up on hospitals and testing facilities with nearly 53,000 new cases being reported across the country's most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria.

Hospital admissions rose by 10% in the last 24 hours.

"We have got some challenging weeks ahead of us," New South Wales Deputy Health Secretary Susan Pearce told the media.

Americas

In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro has canceled its famous Carnival festival for the second consecutive year because of the pandemic.

Mayor Eduardo Paes made the announcement on social media on Tuesday after meeting the representatives of Carnival groups.

He said it was not practical to hold the street carnival while maintaining coronavirus restrictions.

In 2020, an estimated 3 million or more people took part in the festival over four days.

Source: DW