December 1 Omicron coronavirus variant news

South Korea will mandate a 10-day quarantine for all incoming international travelers, including Korean nationals. The requirement will go into effect Dec. 3 for two weeks, Korea Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA) said in a statement Wednesday.

The decision was made the same day five cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant were reported by the country, in travelers arriving from Nigeria. 

The mandate applies to travelers from all countries, regardless of their vaccination status, KDCA said.

Korean nationals and foreigners on a long-term stay can quarantine from home, while foreigners staying less than 90 days must quarantine at a government-designated facility. Quarantine exemptions will only be granted in a limited set of special circumstances, such as attending a funeral, the statement said. 

South Korea will also ban foreign nationals on short-term stays — less than 90 days — from Nigeria from entering the country starting Friday.

On Saturday, South Korea had banned foreign nationals on short-term stays from eight southern African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and Mozambique. Korean citizens and foreigners on long-term stay may still enter the country. 

Starting Saturday, South Korea will also suspend direct flights from Ethiopia for two weeks. The government will arrange non-scheduled flights for Korean nationals to return from African countries, KDCA added.

Roger Dow, CEO of the US Travel Association, is questioning the logic of President Biden’s travel restrictions imposed on South Africa and seven neighboring countries in the wake of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Dow, whose trade group represents all parts of the $1.5 trillion travel industry, said he met multiple times with the White House over the weekend and is very encouraged Biden signaled he’s not anticipating further restrictions.

“Even the WHO came out and said the data and science don’t support this,” he said. “We don’t want to see this go beyond South Africa.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the World Health Organization said “blanket travel banks will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.”

Dow, whose industry relies on a steady stream of foreign tourists, expressed confidence in the existing health protocols to come into the United States, including requirements that visitors are vaccinated and get tested for Covid-19 in advance.

Some background: On Monday, the United States banned all travel from South Africa and seven neighboring countries, with the exception of US citizens and legal permanent residents, who must test negative to enter the country.

Top US officials are considering new restrictions, including requiring everyone who enters the country to be tested for Covid-19 the day before their flight and having all travelers – including US citizens and permanent residents – be tested again after returning home, regardless of vaccination status, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

Dow acknowledged the serious health challenge facing the United States, but suggested it shouldn’t overshadow other priorities. Direct travel employment fell by 34% last year amid the pandemic, according to the US Travel Association. 

“We’ve got a health crisis, no doubt about it. But we’ve got a jobs crisis, an economic crisis, a mental health crisis and a diplomatic crisis,” he said.

Dow argued having more foreign tourists would improve America’s standing in the world. “Getting people here, traveling back and forth, is good public diplomacy,” he said.

Cuban scientists are working on vaccines to combat the Omicron variant, the island’s state-run media reported on Wednesday. 

Cuban pharmaceutical companies have already produced several vaccines scientists say are highly effective against earlier strains of the coronavirus. According to Cuba’s health ministry more than 80% of the island’s population is now fully vaccinated and coronavirus-related infections and deaths have plummeted in recent weeks.

Ireland has reported its first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team said Wednesday. 

The statement said the case is linked to travel from one of the seven southern African countries that Ireland has imposed travel restrictions on.

At Lancet Laboratories in South Africa, scientists and pathologists first noticed an anomaly in positive PCR tests in early November, and it cropped up over and over again.

"It was a bit disturbing, because it made us worry that we were dealing with something new," Allison Glass, a pathologist at Lancet Labs, told CNN's David McKenzie.

They urgently notified South Africa's genomics team. Within days, details about the new Omicron coronavirus variant became known worldwide.

Scientists inside the Wits VIDA Research Unit in South Africa are trying to determine whether the variant is more transmissible or causes more severe disease.

Samples are being put in freezers in the hallways at the lab, and it is set to operate 24 hours a day, McKenzie reported.

Jeanine du Plessis, a medical scientist at the lab, said they are seeing a lot more positive cases in the past few weeks.

Since there is still so much unknown about the variant at the moment, she said "everyone feels a little bit of hopelessness."

Watch:

Top US government officials are considering requiring everyone who enters the country to be tested for Covid-19 the day before their flight and having all travelers — including US citizens and permanent residents — be tested again after returning home, regardless of vaccination status, sources familiar with the discussions have told CNN.

Officials were deliberating the potential changes Tuesday night and no final decisions have been made.

However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a statement that the agency is working to revise testing requirements for travelers because of the new Omicron variant.

Currently, vaccinated travelers are required to test three days before their departures. The move under consideration would shorten that timeline to one day.

A mandatory quarantine for US citizens returning home is not under consideration, according to a White House official.

"The administration continues to evaluate the appropriate measures to protect the American people from COVID-19, especially as we learn more about the Omicron variant, including considering more stringent testing requirements for international travel. Policy discussions are ongoing across the government and no final decisions have been made," a White House official told CNN.

You can read more on the possible changes here.

Europe is in a race against the clock to step up its vaccination and booster programs amid concerns over the Omicron variant hitting its shores, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a news briefing Wednesday.

Von der Leyen urged members states to "do everything possible to make the best out of the time we have until we have certainty about the characteristics of transmissibility and severity of Omicron."

"What is the bottom line? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," she added.

The EU Commission put forward a coordinated EU approach on Wednesday to address the challenges from the resurgence of Covid-19 in many member states this fall.

Among the measures suggested, member states "should continue to implement a joint strategy to limit the entry of the Omicron variant into the EU, with regular, daily reviews of essential travel restrictions," the Commission said in a statement.

Doctors in South Africa have so far observed that patients with the Omicron coronavirus variant are younger and have milder cases, and those who are hospitalized are largely unvaccinated.

Mzukwa said that very few people are being admitted to the hospital and the South African health care system is not under pressure.

Asked about hospitalizations across the country, which have been seen as trending up over the last month, Mzukwa said that even in the province where the Omicron variant is concentrated, “we have not seen that much of hospitalization, all we see is that those patients that do get admitted are patients who are not vaccinated.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has agreed to start negotiations that would pave the way for a global convention to "strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response," it said in a statement Wednesday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision by the World Health Assembly was historic in nature, vital in its mission, and represented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the global health architecture to protect and promote the wellbeing of all people.

An intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) will draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, the statement added.

The INB will hold its first meeting by March next year. It will submit its outcome for consideration by the 77th World Health Assembly in 2024.