Despite the social media hype and initial bookings rush, the number of people actually traveling using the city-state’s quarantine-free travel lanes is surprisingly few, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore data.
2:38 a.m. Health ministers from the Group of Seven nations hold an urgent meeting to discuss the omicron variant. In a joint statement, they say they will continue to work closely together with the WHO and international partners to share information and monitor omicron. They also praise the exemplary work of South Africa in both detecting the variant and alerting others to it.
12:37 a.m. Sweden confirms its first case of the omicron coronavirus variant, the country's Public Health Agency says, citing a test taken just over a week ago by a person who traveled from South Africa.
Spain also detects its first case of the omicron variant, in a traveler coming from South Africa, El Pais newspaper reports.
12:30 a.m. Pfizer has begun work on a new vaccine targeting the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and it could be shipped in less than 100 days if necessary, CEO Albert Bourla says.
"We have made multiple times clear that we would be able to have [this] vaccine in less than 100 days," Bourla told CNBC. He noted that the company created vaccines for the beta and delta variants quickly, though they ultimately weren't used because the original shots remained effective.
Bourla also says the company's treatment pill against COVID-19 will be effective against the new variant.
"The good news when it comes to our treatment, it was designed with that in mind. It was designed with the fact that most mutations are coming in the spikes," he said.
Monday, Nov. 29
11:45 p.m. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said his country will supply another 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries in addition to the 200 million that it has already provided.
Xi's pledge comes amid rising global concerns over the new omicron variant, which was first identified in southern Africa.
11:30 p.m. South Korea will set a six-month limit on its vaccination certificates, the government says, hoping to encourage the public to obtain booster shots. At a meeting of infection control policymakers, President Moon Jae-in says the public needs to realize "that vaccination isn't complete unless you receive a third shot."
The expiration feature will begin Dec. 20. People with expired vaccination certificates will face restrictions on eating at restaurants and other activities.
New COVID-19 infections, serious cases and deaths are reaching all-time highs in South Korea amid a rise in so-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. The Kospi was among the Asian stock indexes falling Monday as worries over the new omicron variant swept the region.
People wait for coronavirus checks outside Seoul Station on Nov. 26. (Photo by Kotaro Hosokawa)
8:00 p.m. The Philippines and Indonesia have imposed travel bans and other restrictions in response to concerns over the spread of the new COVID-19 omicron variant, joining other countries in the region. Read more here.
5:54 p.m. Hong Kong has found its third case of the omicron variant, but officials stress the virus has been contained and will not affect the resumption of quarantine-free travel to mainland China. The city's latest case involves a man who arrived from Nigeria. The government said it would reclassify countries with omicron cases as high-risk. An entry ban on non-Hong Kong residents from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, and Zimbabwe came into effect Sunday. Hong Kong residents arriving in the city from those countries will have to quarantine in a government facility for seven days where they will undergo daily tests, before transferring to a designated hotel for another 14.
5:40 p.m. Portugal has detected 13 cases of the new omicron coronavirus variant -- all related to players and staff members of Lisbon soccer team Belenenses, says health authority DGS.
5:23: p.m. The omicron variant is likely to spread internationally, posing a "very high" global risk where COVID-19 surges could have "severe consequences" in some areas, the World Health Organization says. The U.N. agency, in technical advice to its 194 member states, urged them to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups and to "ensure mitigation plans are in place" to maintain essential health services.
4:03 p.m. Indonesia is prioritizing COVID-19 control over tourism in the short term by continuing with tougher quarantine rules than many of its neighbors, a senior minister told Nikkei Asia, especially as the country gears up to chair the Group of 20 nations and host a series of meetings starting in December -- mainly in Bali.
2:30 p.m. Japan says a person that stayed in Namibia has tested positive for COVID-19 but it is not known whether the infection is of the omicron variant. The person tested positive upon entering Japan on Sunday. The health ministry says it is looking into the case closely and it would take four to five days to determine the type of the variant. Japan is curbing entrants from Namibia and other southern African countries as it steps up measures against the new coronavirus variant.
2:00 p.m. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the country will try to live with the coronavirus despite the new omicron variant posing a fresh health threat to the world. There were no cases of the variant in New Zealand, but the developing global situation showed why a cautious approach was needed at the borders, she said. "Omicron is a reminder of the risk that still exists at our borders."
12:38 p.m. The Japanese government has decided to halt allowing foreign business travelers and students to enter the country because of the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant omicron. After new infection numbers plummeted, the government in early November lifted its entry ban for these travelers. The country still remains closed to tourists.
11:30 a.m. Australia will review plans to reopen borders to skilled migrants and students from Dec. 1, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says, after the country reported its first cases of the omicron variant. Two people who arrived in Sydney from southern Africa tested positive on Sunday for the new variant as officials ordered a 14-day quarantine for citizens returning from nine African countries. Morrison said "it is a bit too early" to reinstate a two-week mandatory hotel quarantine for foreign travelers, urging people to remain calm as data had not yet fully determined the severity, transmissibility and vaccine resistance of the new strain.
11:00 a.m. Top U.S. infectious disease official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told President Joe Biden on Sunday it will take about two weeks to have definitive information on the omicron variant that has sparked new travel curbs. Biden was briefed in person by his coronavirus response team on Sunday as officials expect the new variant to reach the U.S. despite an impending ban on travelers from southern Africa. Fauci said he believes existing vaccines are likely to provide "a degree of protection against severe cases of COVID."
10:10 a.m. Singapore and Malaysia reopen one of the world's busiest land borders, allowing vaccinated travelers to cross after nearly two years of a pandemic-related closure. The sudden closing in March 2020 left tens of thousands of people stranded on both sides, separated from families and fearing for their jobs. Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is due to make his first official visit as premier to Singapore on Monday.
10:00 a.m. China reports 41 cases for Sunday, up from 23 a day earlier. Of these, 21 were locally transmitted, compared with three a day earlier. Almost all the locally transmitted cases were in Inner Mongolia, with one in Yunnan.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida talks to reporters on Nov. 29 as the omicron coronavirus variant pushes the country to consider stricter border curbs. (Photo by Uichiro Kasai)
9:50 a.m. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his country will consider further tightening borders as the newly discovered omicron variant spreads around the world. "We are [taking measures] with a strong sense of crisis," Kishida said, noting that Japan closed its borders to foreigners traveling from nine countries including South Africa as of Sunday. "As we're seeing a spread around the world, we continue to consider further measures to tighten border controls and will announce a decision at the appropriate time."
9:40 a.m. Australian shares fall more than 1% to hit a near two-month low, extending losses to a second straight day, as concerns over the omicron variant hitting economic recovery sparked a broad sell-off. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell as much as 1.36% to 7,180.3 -- its lowest level since Oct. 1 -- after a 1.73% drop on Friday. Australia on Sunday confirmed two cases of the omicron variant, jeopardizing the country's reopening plans.
8:01 a.m. Canada has confirmed its first two cases of the omicron variant, both in Ontario. "This development demonstrates that our monitoring system is working," Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says. The country had already stepped up measures for inbound travelers who had been in southern Africa within the last 14 days.
6:39 a.m. France has detected eight possible cases of the omicron variant, the Ministry for Solidarity and Health says. All flights had already been suspended from the southern African countries of South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, it says.
5:16 a.m. The U.K. says it will convene an urgent meeting of G-7 health ministers on Monday to discuss developments on the new omicron variant. The meeting is expected to be held online.
4:21 a.m. It is not yet clear whether omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease than other variants, including the now-dominant delta, the World Health Organization says in an update. Research is underway to gauge whether rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in South Africa are due to omicron or other factors, the WHO says. "Initial reported infections were among university students -- younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease -- but understanding the level of severity ... will take days to several weeks" for omicron, the update says.
Sunday, Nov. 28
11:00 p.m. Vietnam's health ministry asks the government to temporarily stop flights to and from some African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique, as well as pause issuing visas or travel permission related to these countries. The ministry said it has not detected any omicron cases within its borders.
4:16 p.m. Two people who traveled to Sydney from southern Africa have been found to be infected with the omicron variant.
"The two positive cases, who were asymptomatic, are in isolation in the Special Health Accommodation," the Ministry of Health for the Australian state of New South Wales says. "Both people are fully vaccinated."
The Qatar Airways flight's remaining 12 passengers from southern Africa are undergoing 14 days of hotel quarantine, while around 260 passengers and air crew members "are considered close contacts and have been directed to isolate," the Health Ministry says.
3:11 p.m. China could suffer hundreds of thousands of new infections a day if it abandons zero tolerance and adopts Western-style strategies of living with COVID-19 or opening up the country, creating "the real possibility of a colossal outbreak which would almost certainly induce an unaffordable burden to the medical system," Peking University researchers argue in a new paper.
Looking at the U.S., the U.K., Israel, Spain and France, the authors find that the American strategy would be the worst for China, with an estimated lower bound of 637,155 daily new cases and 22,364 daily severe cases.
"Our findings have raised a clear warning that, for the time being, we are not ready to embrace 'open-up' strategies resting solely on the hypothesis of herd immunity induced by vaccination advocated by certain western countries," the researchers conclude. "More efficient vaccinations or more specific treatment, preferably the combination of both, are needed before entry-exit quarantine measures and other COVID-19 response strategies in China can be safely lifted."
The statistical study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the U.S.-headquartered Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It appears in China CDC Weekly, a publication of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
2:50 p.m. The omicron variant has spread to multiple European countries, among them the U.K., Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
1:08 p.m. Indonesia will bar international travelers arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini and Nigeria, effective Monday local time.
"If there are foreign nationals who have visited any of these countries within the past 14 days, they will be denied entry to Indonesia at the Immigration Border Control," Directorate General of Immigration spokesperson Arya Pradhana Anggakara says. The DGI says it has also temporarily suspended the granting of visitor visas and temporary stay visa applications.
Indonesians entering from the eight countries and Hong Kong will also now have to quarantine in designated facilities for 14 days, but the ban will not affect delegates to Group of 20 meetings, Reuters reports. Indonesia will soon take over the G-20's rotating presidency.
6:59 a.m. Israel will ban the entry of all foreigners into the country and reintroduce counterterrorism phone-tracking technology to contain the spread of the new and potentially more contagious omicron variant first detected in South Africa. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says in a statement that the ban, pending government approval, would last 14 days. Israel, the first country to shut its borders completely over the variant, has so far confirmed one omicron case and seven other suspected cases.
5:45 a.m. Saudi Arabia will allow entry to travelers "from all countries" as long as they have received one dose of a vaccine inside the kingdom, authorities say, a day after suspending flights from seven African countries due to the omicron variant. Travelers would be allowed in from next Saturday and would need to quarantine for three days.
3:05 a.m. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State Department advise against travel to eight southern African countries after the White House announced new travel restrictions in response to a new COVID-19 variant.
The CDC raises its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High" for South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana, while the State Department issues parallel "Do Not Travel" advisories. On Monday, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to "Level 1: Low."
2:27 a.m. There is a reasonable chance that the newly identified omicron coronavirus variant has some degree of resistance to vaccines, England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty says. "There is a reasonable chance that at least there will be some degree of vaccine escape with this variant," Whitty tells a news conference, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
12:45 a.m. The U.S. will continue to push for World Trade Organization members to agree on an intellectual property framework for COVID-19 vaccines after a major WTO ministerial meeting set for this week was postponed on Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says.
In two tweets, Tai says the postponement "is a reminder that we still have much work to do to end the pandemic."
"The United States will continue working with @WTO members to achieve a multifaceted outcome on trade and health, including an international IP framework, that supports the global pandemic response and puts the WTO in a stronger position to meet the needs of regular people," she says.
12:20 a.m. Singapore detects 1,761 new cases compared with 1,090 infections the day before as well as six new deaths. Of the new cases, 1,689 are in the community, 63 in the migrant worker dormitories and nine are imported cases, according to the Ministry of Health. The weekly infection growth rate is 0.75.
Saturday, Nov. 27
7:35 p.m. The Czech Republic is examining a suspected case of the omicron variant detected in a person who spent time in Namibia, the National Institute of Public Health says.
7:15 p.m. A minister in the German state of Hesse says the recently discovered omicron coronavirus variant had probably arrived in Germany, Reuters reports.
"Last night several omicron-typical mutations were found in a traveller returning from South Africa," tweets Kai Klose, social affairs minister in the western German state.
5:35 p.m. Japan will add Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia to its list of nations subject to tighter entry rules from Sunday, following the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says.
The addition comes one day after Tokyo started requiring travelers who have recently been to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa or Zimbabwe to spend 10 days in a government-designated facility upon arrival.
4:50 p.m. Sri Lanka bars travelers from six southern African countries over concerns about the new omicron variant.
3:40 p.m. A senior Thai health official says the nation will ban entry of people traveling from eight African countries it designated as high-risk for the new omicron variant. Starting in December, travel from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, will be prohibited, according to Reuters.
11:26 a.m. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt says the country will introduce 14-day quarantine for citizens and their dependents traveling from nine countries in southern Africa due to the new coronavirus variant omicron, according to Reuters.
LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - Moderna chief medical officer Paul Burton said he suspects the new Omicron coronavirus variant may elude current vaccines, and if so, a reformulated shot could be available early in the new year.
"We should know about the ability of the current vaccine to provide protection in the next couple of weeks," Dr Burton said on Sunday (Nov 28) on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"If we have to make a brand new vaccine, I think that's going to be early 2022 before that's really going to be available in large quantities," he said.
"The remarkable thing about the mRNA vaccines, the Moderna platform, is that we can move very fast," he added.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company mobilised "hundreds" of staff early last Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the United States, after news of the Omicron variant spread.
Protection should still exist, depending on how long ago a person was vaccinated, and for now the best advice is to take one of the current Covid-19 vaccines, Dr Burton said.
"If people are on the fence, and you haven't been vaccinated, get vaccinated," he said. "This is a dangerous-looking virus, but I think we have many tools in our armamentarium now to fight it."
Fears that it could exacerbate a winter Covid-19 surge in the northern hemisphere and undermine a global economic recovery sent a wave of risk aversion across global markets last Friday that continued on Sunday when the Middle East opened for the week.
Moderna said in a release on Friday that it was working rapidly to test the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, and studying two booster candidates.
"Since early 2021, Moderna has advanced a comprehensive strategy to anticipate new variants of concern," the company said. "The company has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to advance new candidates to clinical testing in 60 to 90 days."
Cases of the new omicron coronavirus variant are spreading and the WHO says symptoms are mild so far. Global markets face a week of uncertainty. China sends 27 warplanes close to Taiwan. Here’s what you need to know today.
Airlines, passengers and businesses scrambled to respond to a deluge of travel restrictions announced over the weekend to slow the spread of the omicron variant. Australiasuspended direct flights from nine southern African countries. Singapore is watching the impact of the new strain “very closely” and may be forced to roll back some easing measures. The Philippines won’t welcome travelers from some European countries for the next several weeks. Meanwhile, the WHO is urging caution after two South African health experts, including the doctor who first sounded the alarm about omicron, indicated that symptoms linked to it have been mild so far. The variant appears to be more transmissible, reinforcing the need for vaccinations or booster shots, said the U.S.’s top infectious-disease doctor, Anthony Fauci.
The fate of global markets now depends at least in part on laboratories around the world probing the omicron strain, potentially leaving investors with weeks of uncertainty. Stocks looked set to fall in Asia on Monday while currency markets stabilized after Friday’s volatility. OPEC+ is moving two technical meetings to later this week after oil’s rout last Friday and to give its committees more time to evaluate the impact of a new strain. And pessimists rule emerging markets as central banks confront the fallout from the variant.
China’s Covid Zero strategy may be around a while longer. The country would face a “colossal outbreak” if it were to reopen in a similar manner to the U.S., researchers at Peking University predicted. Loosening from its current approach would lead to as many as 637,155 infections a day, the modeling showed — which would be the largest daily figure reported by any country since the pandemic began. The study also predicted a rise in China’s infections if it adopted the policies of the U.K., Israel, Spain or France. Separately, Goldman joined Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan in offering quarantine reimbursement for employees in the Asia-Pacific.
China on Saturday sent 27 warplanes close to Taiwan, the most since October, after a U.S. lawmaker defied Beijing’s demand that she abandon a trip to the island. The aircraft, including J-16 fighter jets, entered Taiwan’s southwest Air Defense Identification Zone, according to the Ministry of National Defense. Meanwhile, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said world powers must secure full, guaranteed and verifiable sanctions removal for Tehran when they resume talks on Monday aimed at reviving a landmark 2015 deal and ending a standoff with the U.S.
Thailand is targeting newly minted crypto millionaires to breathe life into its pandemic-battered tourism industry. Its tourism authority is working with the nation’s regulators and a local cryptocurrency exchange to pave the way for the acceptance of digital tokens for travel. Separately, social media platforms will be required to reveal the identities of anonymous online trolls or face making defamation payouts under new legislation proposed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Meanwhile, is India banning crypto? Here’s a look at the hot-cold relationship between digital currencies and one of the fastest-growing markets for crypto trading.
What We’ve Been Reading
What’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours:
And finally, here’s what Tracy’s interested in today
What just happened in markets? News of omicron — a new strain of Covid with 32 mutations to its spike protein — prompted a massive selloff on Friday. The S&P 500 closed down 2.2% as investors rushed to incorporate the new variant into their expectations of economic growth. Obviously the big unknown is what exactly omicron mighty mean for vaccine efficacy, and here there remains a big question mark. But if we focus on the market reaction for a bit, two things jump out.
1. The first is that something weird was happening in markets even before Friday. While the S&P 500 was relatively flat from Monday to Wednesday (Thursday was closed for Thanksgiving), there was a lot going on under the surface. The CBOE's Volatility Index had already begun to nudge higher, opening the week at 18.20 and then jumping to as high as 20.96 on Wednesday. You can see the shift in the VIX Curve in the below chart, which also shows that the curve is now inverted. Stocks beloved by hedge funds and certain momentum investors also dropped precipitously early in the week, with lots of factor strategies seemingly taking hits.
2. Meanwhile, the spread between 5- and 30-year U.S. Treasuries jumped on Friday as investors priced-in a potentially slower rate of Fed interest rate hikes. But as Jon Turek over at Convexity Capital points out, all this uncertainty would appear to raise the chances of a central bank policy error (in which case, the curve should be flattening rather than steepening). “If anything, omicron actually raised the odds of a policy mistake as the price side of the mandate will make it much harder for the Fed to react to potential growth risks,” he says.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying that we don't know a lot about omicron just yet and markets may be reacting in a not particularly coherent way, or to something else entirely.
You can follow Tracy Alloway on Twitter at @tracyalloway.
You won't see snacks the same way again — or specifically, the person selling them — unless you have been snacking with your eyes.
A street vendor in Chiang Mai, Thailand has stirred the internet's imagination this week with her creative way of attracting customers.
Wearing nothing underneath her cardigan — with a pin barely keeping it together— the 23-year-old has been selling Thai pancakes, a popular street snack, or better known to locals as khanom Tokyo.
And it appears that her sweet treats have brought all the men to her stall.
United States treasuries and the Japanese yen gained while South Africa's rand fell to its lowest in a year against the US dollar amid fears the variant may spread internationally, thwarting the recovery in the world's economy.
Asian stocks and US equity futures fell amid the risk-off tone, with thin liquidity likely a factor given American markets were shut for Thanksgiving on Thursday.
A gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks slid to the lowest since the middle of last month, with travel shares among the biggest decliners. Singapore Airlines shares fell nine cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $5.16.
Japan's Nikkei index sank 2.23 per cent, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.9 per cent while South Korea's Kospi index was down 0.48 per cent.
Just after opening, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 0.96 per cent while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.23 per cent.
The benchmark Straits Times Index was down 1.06 per cent as at 9.35am.
The detection of the strain comes on top of concerns in markets about high inflation and the prospect of quicker exit from ultra-loose monetary settings. Global shares have climbed about 16 per cent this year, weathering a plethora of risks after investors poured almost US$900 billion (S$1.23 trillion) into equity exchange-traded and long-only funds this year - topping the combined total from the past 19 years.
"Traders are trimming risk positions because of concern over the new virus variant," said Dr Alvin T. Tan, head of Asia foreign exchange strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. "The risk-off sentiment is magnified given the thin liquidity as it's Asia morning plus the US holiday."
IG Markets analyst Kyle Rodda said that the virus variant is "a scary headline", so it may have caused a knee-jerk reaction.
He added that "North America off the desks means there's a wall of buyers missing", and thinner markets make for more pronounced moves.
United First Partners head of Asian Research Justin Tang said: "There is some risk off happening from Japan to Africa due to concerns around a new virus variant being found in South Africa, but the good thing is countries such as UK are acting fast to curtail its spread."
He added: "Given that the world has gone through this before with Delta, there is already a playbook for such situations - even if the new variant overstays."
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dropped as much as 5 basis points to 1.58 per cent as cash trading resumed following the holiday. The yen rose 0.4 per cent against the dollar, while the Swiss franc saw a 0.2 per cent rise, both outperforming their Group of 10 peers. The rand slid as much as 1.3 per cent to a one-year low of 16.1717 per dollar.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group economists said they expect the US Federal Reserve to tighten policy faster than previously anticipated, including doubling the pace at which it tapers bond purchases to US$30 billion a month from January. They see an interest-rate lift-off from near zero in June next year.
"The increased openness to accelerating the taper pace likely reflects both somewhat higher-than-expected inflation over the last two months and greater comfort among Fed officials that a faster pace would not shock financial markets," the Goldman team, led by Dr Jan Hatzius, wrote in a note.
In China, the economy continued to slow this month, with car and homes sales dropping again as a housing market crisis dragged on, according to Bloomberg's aggregate index of eight early indicators.
