Image source,Reuters
The spread of the Omi Keron variant has once again tightened Hong Kong’s air travel quarantine policy.
As 2022 is approaching, Omicron, a variant of the new crown virus, is raging in Europe and the United States. The number of confirmed cases has reached a new high, and community transmission has also occurred in Hong Kong.
Regarding the new crown epidemic, good news and bad news alternated. On the one hand, there are reports that the Kexing vaccine still has a low immune effect on Omi Keron after the booster shot; but there are also studies that claim that Omi Keron generally leads to a much lower risk of hospitalization than the variant Delta.
Under the blow of this round of the epidemic, the aviation sector has “made worse”. On Friday, 2,800 flights around the world were cancelled. This situation intensified this Saturday, with a total of 4,400 flights being cancelled. Among them, the United States accounts for about half.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization Tan Desai issued a statement on the occasion of the new year, saying that he remains optimistic about defeating the new crown epidemic in 2022, because there are more and more tools and methods to fight the epidemic.
In the past two years, 287 million people worldwide have been infected with the new crown virus and 5.5 million people have died.
New U.S. cases hit a new high
According to Reuters statistics, the number of new cases in a single day in the United States doubled in eight days on December 31, reaching an average of 329,000 cases, a record high. During the same period, hospital admissions increased by 32%, and Maryland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. all set records.
The situation in Europe is not optimistic. On New Year’s Eve, the average daily number of infections in the UK was 189,000, France was 232,000, Italy was 144,000, and Greece was 40,000.
Image source,Reuters
The Christmas market in Paris is crowded with people.
The high number of confirmed diagnoses has dealt a blow to the aviation industry.
According to real-time statistics from flight tracking website FlightAware.com, as of Friday noon Eastern Time, more than 2,800 flights worldwide have been cancelled, including more than 1,400 flights within the United States or in and out of the United States. There are more than 6,500 flight delays worldwide.
This Saturday, the number of cancelled flights rose to 4,400, and more than 2,500 were US flights.
According to Reuters analysis, the Christmas holiday is usually the peak of air travel, but the rapid spread of the Omi Keron variant has led to a sharp increase in the number of infections, which necessitates isolation of crew members including pilots. Coupled with the reluctance of American Airlines flight attendants, pilots and support staff to work overtime during the holiday travel season, some airline unions said that many people are worried about infection and are unwilling to face unruly passengers.
Therefore, even with high bonus incentives, airlines still have to cancel flights on a large scale.
Omi Keron spreads locally for the first time in Hong Kong
Hong Kong pursues “zero tolerance” epidemic prevention measures, and the overall number of infections is far less than that of Europe and the United States. However, local community transmission of Ome Keron has also occurred recently-four consecutive Cathay Pacific crew members have been diagnosed, one of whom is patronizing one. During the local restaurant, the virus was transmitted to the father on the same stage and the customers who ate at a distance of 10 meters.
Image source,EPA
Hong Kong pursues “zero tolerance” epidemic prevention measures, and the overall number of infections is far fewer than that of Europe and the United States. However, the recent local community transmission of Ome Keron is also worrying.
The Secretary of the Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau, Chen Zhaoshi, said at the press conference that this is the first time that local transmission has been detected. Imported cases have entered the community, resulting in the emergence of infected groups. The situation is worrying.
Regarding whether Hong Kong and the Mainland will be affected by quarantine-free customs clearance, Chen Zhaoshi said that different policy bureaus and units of the SAR government have been preparing for customs clearance, and will first deal with the latest developments in the epidemic, and use the highest-level measures to achieve “dynamic zero”. “Put out the fire.
Image source,Getty Images
Cathay Pacific Airways reduced flights after Hong Kong tightened its crew isolation policy.
Since the epidemic prevention loophole came from Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam summoned Cathay Pacific’s chairman and chief executive officer on Friday to express strong dissatisfaction with the SAR government regarding Cathay Pacific crew members’ violation of the three-day home quarantine requirement after returning to Hong Kong.
To this end, the Hong Kong authorities announced further tightening of quarantine arrangements for crew members stationed in Hong Kong, extending the quarantine period from three days to seven days.
Cathay Pacific immediately reduced the number of flights and cancelled a number of passenger and cargo flights in and out of Hong Kong.
Bad news and good news
There is bad news in the latest research on Omi Keron. For example, a study showed that two doses of Kexing vaccine combined with Pfizer booster shots have a lower immune effect on Omi Keron variants than other strains.
Image source,Getty Images
The new coronavirus continues to mutate during its global spread.
In this study, a collaboration between Yale University and the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Health and other researchers analyzed the plasma samples of 101 participants in the Dominican Republic. However, the study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Specifically, two doses of Kexing vaccine combined with Pfizer booster can produce antibody levels similar to two doses of mRNA vaccine. Moreover, compared with the original strain, the level of antibodies against Omi Keron was 6.3 times lower, and compared with Delta, the level of antibodies was 2.7 times lower.
One of the authors of the research report said on Twitter that people vaccinated with Koxing vaccine may need two booster shots to achieve the level of protection required against Omi Keron.
A Hong Kong study last week showed that even three doses of Kexing vaccine could not produce enough antibody response against Omi Keron, and Pfizer’s booster shots must be used to achieve the “protective level.”
There is also good news. For example, according to the analysis of more than 1 million cases of Ome Keron and Delta variants in the UK in recent weeks, the risk of hospitalization caused by Ome Keron variants is about one third of that of the Delta variant.
The United Kingdom is experiencing a surge in cases brought by Omikeron. Although the number of hospitalizations has begun to rise, the number of patients requiring ventilator beds in December has also remained stable. The British government stated that the new variant is more gentle than the Delta variant.