Europe hits 75 million COVID cases as it braces for Omicron: Live

Europe has crossed 75 million coronavirus cases, according to a Reuters news agency tally, as the region braces for the new Omicron variant at a time when hospitals in some countries are already strained by the current surge.

A rise in the prevalence of COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom in the latest week was driven by the dominant Delta variant rather than Omicron, UK’s Office for National Statistics said.

Meanwhile, Russia’s COVID-19 death toll has reached at least 578,020, the third-worst in the world, according to Reuters calculations based on official statistics for October, the country’s deadliest month so far.

In The Netherlands, health authorities said they were worried some passengers arriving from South Africa in the past week were testing positive for COVID-19 on arrival despite having been vaccinated and testing negative before their flight departure.

In South Africa, the country is being hit by a fourth wave of infections driven by the new variant which has been detected in seven of the country’s nine provinces, its health minister said.

In the United States, the Omicron variant is now reported in no less than nine states including Utah, Missouri and Nebraska, which reported at least six cases.

Here are the latest updates for Saturday:

31 mins ago (02:51 GMT)

Australia Omicron variant spreads, testing reopening plans

The Omicron coronavirus variant spread in Australia on Saturday, testing plans to reopen the economy as a cluster in Sydney grew to 13 cases and an infection was suspected in the state of Queensland.

After Australia reported its first community transmission of Omicron on Friday, further cases were expected over the weekend when more tests results come, said Kerry Chant, chief health officer of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital.

Queensland authorities said the state suspected its first Omicron case in a person who travelled from South Africa and that genome sequencing was ongoing.

The Australian Capital Territory, home to the capital Canberra, was also on alert for further spread after one of its new coronavirus cases was found to be a close contact of the Territory’s first Omicron case reported on Friday.

57 mins ago (02:25 GMT)

Children warned of risks of hospitalisation due to Omicron variant

⚠️KIDS HOSPITALIZATIONS—The “highly transmissible” #Omicron variant is putting disproportionately large numbers of children under the age of 5 years old in hospitals, a top South African government medical adviser said Friday. #COVID19 🧵 https://t.co/ZdYaN19oFr pic.twitter.com/8aaleyNnUf

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 3, 2021

3 hours ago (00:05 GMT)

Utah reports state’s first confirmed case of the Omicron variant

Utah reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant, the US state’s health department said on Friday.

“The case was discovered through ongoing genetic sequencing of positive COVID-19 samples at the Utah Public Health Laboratory,” the state’s health department said on social media.

The Omicron variant is now reported in at least nine US states.

3 hours ago (23:55 GMT)

US state of Missouri reports first Omicron variant

Missouri has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in a resident of St Louis who had recently traveled domestically, according to the state health department.

Earlier, the state of Nebraska also reported the Omicron variant after detecting six confirmed cases of the highly contagious strain.

4 hours ago (23:38 GMT)

12 new Omicron variant cases reported in Canada

Canada has discovered a total of 12 cases of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 and severe illness trends across the country could start to rise again, public health officials said.