OF THE
TIMES

A total of 134 cases of Omicron were confirmed in the UK as of Friday night, the Guardian reported.
The quick spike in infections came amid a report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) indicating that the first 22 Omicron cases in England were people that had gotten two shots of a coronavirus vaccine
Of those, 12 cases occurred more than 14 days after the individual had received at least two doses of vaccine. Two cases were more than 28 days after a first dose of vaccine. Six were unvaccinated, while two had no available data.
No one has died or been hospitalized yet among the new cases involving Omicron, the Guardian reported. But UKHSA officials issued a statement saying that "most of the cases have a specimen date that is very recent and that there is a lag between onset of infection and hospitalization and death."
Gah! It's almost like they're hoping for them. Gotta keep that fear level ramped.
The UKHSA issued its highest "red" alert against the virus given its potential to evade both vaccine and naturally acquired immunity.
UKHSA also said Omicron could reduce the effectiveness of monoclonal antibody treatments.
In Scotland, Omicron cases increased by 16 in the past 24 hours to 29, a significant jump on the three cases identified the previous day.
"I have not seen reports of Omicron-related deaths yet. We're collecting all the evidence and we will find much more evidence as we go along. The more countries... keep testing people, and looking specifically into the Omicron variant, we will also find more cases, more information, and, hopefully not, but also possibly deaths."While Omicron has rattled the world, Lindmeier also urged people to be mindful of the Delta variant, which accounts for 99.8 percent of sequences uploaded to the GISAID global science initiative with specimens collected in the last 60 days.
"Omicron may be on the rise, and we may come to a point where it takes over to be the dominant variant, but at this point, the very dominant variant remains Delta. The restrictions that were put into place in many countries just two weeks ago -- economical closures again, lockdowns in some areas, closures of Christmas markets in parts of Europe -- this was done before Omicron because of a rise of Delta cases. Let's not lose sight of this."The spokesman urged people to use proven measures protect themselves against Delta -- and thereby against Omicron.
Comment: See also: