The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the Omicron variant

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has to comply with Spain's health rules to be able to compete in Madrid Open that kicks off in late April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.

Sanchez lauded Australia’s decision to deport Djokovic, saying he has "total respect for the decision of the Australian government." 

Spain currently requires visitors to show proof of full vaccination, a recent PCR negative test within 72 hours before arrival or a certificate of having recovered from Covid-19, according to its health ministry. 

International sporting events in the country may add additional rules for participants such as Covid-19 testing on a daily basis during the tournament, a senior government official told CNN on Monday.

Hear what Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic had to say about Djokovic getting deported:

A vaccine mandate for those aged 60 years and is now in effect in Greece.

Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou suggested the mandate had helped get that group vaccinated.

“It is important that 90%, nine out of 10, of our fellow citizens over the age of 60, have now been vaccinated. Almost half of those who were unvaccinated, when the mandate was announced, made ... the choice to get vaccinated,” he said during a news briefing.

The mandate, which came into effect midnight Sunday into Monday Greek time, does not apply to those who have exemption approval due to health reasons and does not impose fines on those who need to be vaccinated at home and are awaiting for a slot. 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Gen. Mark Milley tested positive for Covid-19 Sunday and “is experiencing very minor symptoms,” Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said in a statement Monday. 

Milley “is working remotely and isolating himself from contact with others,” Butler said, adding that the top US general “can perform all of his duties from the remote location.” 

“He has received the Covid-19 vaccines including the booster,” Butler said.

According to the statement, Milley most recently had contact with President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Gen. Raymond Odierno’s funeral.

“He tested negative several days prior to and every day following contact with the President until yesterday,” Butler said.

“All other Joint Chiefs of Staff except for one tested negative for COVID-19 yesterday,” he said.

A combined Covid-19 and flu booster shot from Moderna could be available in some countries by fall 2023 at the earliest, CEO Stéphane Bancel said Monday.

Speaking at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event being held this week by the World Economic Forum, Bancel said this date was a “best case scenario,” but that he believed it was possible for some countries next year.

He explained it was a goal for the company to have a single annual booster shot available to avoid “compliance issues” where people are wary about getting multiple shots every winter.

Masks are to be worn outside in certain crowded areas in Paris, the prefecture police announced Monday. 

The new decree imposes obligatory wearing of masks in areas where "the density of people does not guarantee, without the wearing of masks, the proper upholding of barrier measures," the prefecture statement said, referring to acts like social distancing against Covid-19 infections. 

According to the statement, masks should be worn in outdoor markets, at rallies or gatherings of 10 or more people in public, when waiting for public transport or outside stations and malls, as well as outside teaching and cultural institutions. 

This comes after Paris’ administrative tribunal ruled on Thursday that the city-wide outdoors mask mandate was “disproportionate." Courts in the towns of Versailles and Nantes also ruled against city-wide mask mandates last week.

Tickets for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics will not be sold to the general public in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced Monday. Instead, they will be distributed by authorities.

“In terms of the grim and complex situation of epidemic prevention and control [and] in order to protect the health and safety of Olympic personnel and spectators, we have decided to change the original plan of public ticket sales," the committee announced. 

This announcement comes after the Chinese capital reported its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant on Saturday.

The prevention control policy issued in September had already restricted ticket sales to only spectators residing in mainland China and who met the requirements of the Covid-19 countermeasures. 

Audiences will still be required to "strictly comply with Covid-19 prevention and control requirements before, during and after watching the Games,” the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee added. 

The Games are set to begin Friday, Feb. 4.

Austria will implement a wide-ranging Covid-19 vaccine mandate, which includes fines for unvaccinated adults, from February 1.

The government announced last November that a vaccine mandate was necessary to address the low vaccination rate in the country. The first draft of the law was published in December, and a revised draft was published Monday and is now going through parliament. 

Everyone age 18 and over living in Austria must be vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the latest draft. A few groups of people are exempt, such as pregnant people, people recovered from a Covid-19 infection (who are exempt for 180 days from a positive PCR test), and people who cannot be vaccinated without endangering their health. 

“The mandatory vaccination isn’t coming in a sudden way, instead it is coming in a phased approach,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF Sunday.

No fines will be issued during the initial phase, which lasts until mid-March, said Nehammer. From March 15, law enforcement will start checking if people are adhering to the new law, for example by examining their vaccination status during traffic controls.

In the third stage of the mandate, these reminder dates will be followed up with “vaccine dates.” People who haven't got shots or an exemption by then will be issued with fines.

There will be two “vaccine dates” each year. A person can be given a maximum of four fines annually, which would total €2,400 ($2,741).

The vaccine mandate is planned to last until January 31, 2024 and it will be continually assessed until then, according to the Austrian health ministry. 

Germany is seeing a record-high weekly incidence rate of Covid-19 due to the Omicron wave, but intensive care admissions are starting to decrease, according to health officials. 

On Monday the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases reported a seven-day incidence rate of 528.2 cases per 100k people, as overall infections surpassed 8 million since the pandemic began.

Berlin is a new hotspot in the country with various parts of the capital reporting up to 1,596 infections per 100k people, according to RKI figures.

Meanwhile, intensive care units are starting to feel some relief with fewer patients being admitted, tweeted Christian Karagiannidis of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency on Sunday. 

However, health minister Karl Lauterbach warned that recovery from Omicron does not replace vaccination in a tweet on Sunday. 

"[People] non-vaccinated with Omicron infections will have little protection next fall against other variants," he warned. “This is the price of an escape variant.” 

All professional athletes who wish to compete in France will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19, France’s sports ministry told CNN on Monday.

France's vaccine pass law, approved by parliament on Sunday, will require people to have a vaccine certificate to enter public places such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas and sports arenas, among others.

“The rule is simple. The vaccine pass will be required once the law comes into force in institutions that were already subject to the health pass (sporting or cultural). This will apply to everyone (spectators, professional sportspeople),” a French Sports Ministry spokeswoman told CNN.

The French Open previously allowed for unvaccinated players to compete as they operated in a bubble around the tournament.

Djokovic is the reigning men’s singles champion on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

“As for Roland Garros, it's in May. The situation may change by then and it is hoped that it will be more favorable. So we'll see, but now clearly it's not exception [from the rules],” the spokeswoman added.

The World No.1, who has not been vaccinated against Covid-19, was deported from Australia on Sunday after losing his legal challenge against a decision to revoke his visa for a second time.