France starts vaccinating children,Omicron forces restrictions

Governments globally have tightened social mobility restrictions and made urgent pleas for citizens to vaccinate as Omicron emerges as the dominant strain of the virus. I Singapore Government decided to freeze all new ticket sales for flights and buses under its programme for quarantine-free travel into the city-state from Thursday to January 20. U.S. President Joe Biden promised half a billion free rapid COVID-19 tests and warned the quarter of American adults who are unvaccinated that their choices could spell the "difference between life and death." There was also resistance to new lockdowns in South Korea, where authorities announced restrictions on gatherings and operating times for restaurants, cafes and bars.
In response to the surge in cases, countries are also looking to shorten the time between second vaccination shots and boosters. However, wary of public lockdown fatigue, there is reluctance to return to the strict curbs imposed during the spread of the Delta variant earlier this year. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced new vaccination funding for clinics and pharmacies. He also urged the country's states to reopen hundreds of vaccination hubs, to accelerate a booster rollout.  Australia on Wednesday reported more than 5,000 daily infections for the first time during the pandemic, with the bulk of cases in its most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria.

Meanwhile, two studies from Britain published Wednesday showed Covid infections with Omicron are less likely to result in hospitalization compared to the Delta variant, the latest research confirming a trend first identified in South Africa.The preliminary studies -- one paper from Scotland and the other from England -- were cautiously welcomed by experts, who nonetheless stressed that any advantage in milder outcomes could still be negated by the new strain's heightened infectiousness, which may still lead to more overall severe cases.France on Wednesday started vaccinating children from the age of five as governments scramble to contain fresh virus surges driven by the Omicron variant. French health workers began administering Pfizer-BioNTech jabs to children aged between five and 11 in the government's latest step to combat a fresh wave of cases. The move came just two days after the national health regulator, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), gave the green light to the vaccine elaborated by US-based Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech. Finland also revealed plans to expand its vaccination programme to children aged between five and 12, a day after announcing bars must close at 9 pm on Christmas Eve as part of new restrictions to fight record Covid infection levels.