‘Beginning of the end’: Upbeat Poland cuts COVID-19 isolation

WARSAW — An end to the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, the Polish health minister said on Wednesday, as he announced a cut to the isolation period for people infected with the coronavirus and looser quarantine rules.

Poland saw record daily case numbers as recently as two weeks ago, but with infections falling and the effects of Omicron appearing to be milder than previous variants, authorities believe the time is right for a lighter touch.

"We are dealing with the beginning of the end of the pandemic," Adam Niedzielski told a news conference. "In February, declines in infections should be relatively large."

From Feb. 15 the isolation period for people with COVID-19 will be cut to seven days from 10. People in the same household will only be quarantined during the isolation period.

From Feb. 11, people from outside an infected person's household who have come into contact with them will not be quarantined. Quarantine for travelers without a COVID vaccination certificate will also be cut to seven days.

Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek said school pupils would return to on-site learning from Feb. 21.

In comments published earlier on Wednesday, Niedzielski said Poland may lift its COVID-19 restrictions in March if daily infection numbers kept falling at the current rate.

"If the tempo at which infections are falling remains the same, there is a realistic prospect of lifting restrictions in March," Niedzielski told the Fakt tabloid.

He said wearing masks in closed spaces would become a recommendation rather than a requirement.Poland currently requires people to wear masks in enclosed public spaces and there are limits on the number of unvaccinated people allowed in restaurants and other venues. The regulations are often not strictly enforced.

The country of around 38 million people has reported 5,271,016 cases of the coronavirus and 107,204 deaths.

-reuters-

France eases COVID-19 curbs, including outdoor mask-wearing

PARIS — France began lifting coronavirus restrictions including mandatory outdoor mask-wearing Wednesday in a bid to ease citizens' daily lives, dividing opinion as the country only last month reported record COVID-19 infections.

Audience capacity limits for concert halls, sporting matches and other events were also removed, and although home working will no longer be mandated, it is still recommended.

The move begins a 2-part relaxation of curbs announced at the end of January -- despite the country hitting record levels of daily cases last month -- and comes as England and Denmark also eased their restrictions.

France "will be able to lift most of the restrictions taken to curb the epidemic in February" thanks to the new vaccination pass, which replaced the health pass, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in January.

Since last month proof of inoculation records have been required for the new passes -- needed to access everything from bars and restaurants to long-distance public transport.

Previously, the health pass could also be obtained with a recent negative COVID-19 test, a possibility the government ended in its bid to convince more people to get COVID jabs. 

The second stage of the curb-lifting will see nightclubs, shut since December, reopen on Feb. 16 and standing areas will again be allowed at concerts, sporting events and bars.

Eating and drinking will also be permitted in stadiums, cinemas and public transport from then.

Paris has not made the easing of restrictions conditional on the progress of the health situation.

Authorities view the threat of the Omicron variant as limited and less dangerous than previous strains of the virus, even though it is more contagious.

"We have seen a weak reversal of the trend over the past few days, with fewer cases declared each day than 7 days earlier," government spokesman Gabriel Attal told France Info radio Tuesday.

An average of 322,256 cases were recorded over the previous 7 days, according to latest figures, compared with 366,179 a week ago.

Attal called it a "very encouraging signal" but said officials "remain cautious" because of a "very contagious" sub-variant of Omicron that appears to have delayed the peak of infections in other countries.

Agence France-Presse

Greece allows music in bars and restaurants again as COVID cases ease

ATHENS - Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that coronavirus infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing, authorities said on Thursday.

The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

"We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks," Health Minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.

He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.

Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.

Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.

A total of 23,083 deaths linked to COVID-19 have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Lefteris Papadimas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

-reuters-

Apple poised for strong earnings despite supply constraints, Omicron

Apple Inc navigated pandemic-related supply chain issues better than rivals at the end of 2021, likely helping the iPhone maker surpass Wall Street revenue growth targets of 6 percent, some analysts estimate.

Apple, which is set to post quarterly earnings on Thursday, was buoyed by strong iPhone 13 sales globally, sales in China and continued growth in Mac shipments, several analysts told Reuters.

The market is closely watching earnings at Apple, Tesla and other tech companies to see if they quell the sell-off that has wiped out nearly $3 trillion in value from the Nasdaq 100. Investors are dumping tech stocks on fears that the Fed will hike interest rates fairly aggressively and erode the value of their future earnings. Some are concerned that the surge of pandemic at-home tech buying will not last as conditions improve.

"We expect Apple to reach its highest market share in China since Apple entered the market in 2008," said analyst Nicole Peng of Canalys.

Investment firm Wedbush Securities forecasts record iPhone sales of more than 40 million units during the holiday period from Black Friday to Christmas. Morgan Stanley estimates total holiday quarter iPhone shipments at 83 million, representing a 4 percent increase from the previous year.

Wall Street analysts expect Apple to post about $118.7 billion in revenue, representing 6.48 percent year-over-year growth, and quarterly earnings per share of $1.89, according to Eikon data as of Tuesday.

Apple posted a rare revenue miss in the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 25, which Chief Executive Tim Cook attributed to pandemic-related supply constraints and manufacturing disruptions that together cost the company an estimated $6 billion in sales.

Cook at the time forecast an even bigger drag in the holiday quarter, but analysts expect strong growth compared to competitors in the just-ended quarter, which began days after Apple started shipping the iPhone 13.

"Since Apple has many customized components going into the iPhones, Macs, Apple Watch and others and the scale (volume and price) at which it procures, Apple has been able to lock-in suppliers’ capacities to timely produce those parts with lesser delays," said Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research.

Shah added that Apple is seeing the highest demand for iPhones since the 2015 "supercycle."

Smaller rivals are struggling to keep up with production, leading to Apple market share gains in regions such as China, said Angelo Zino of CFRA Research in a research note.

Apple has said it expects iPads to be its only product with lower sales compared with a year ago due to supply constraints. Analysts say Apple likely prioritized iPhone units for components.

Preliminary holiday quarter data from IDC indicates almost 9 percent growth in Mac shipments, compared with a 1 percent rise in the PC market as a whole. 

Analysts played down concerns about the impacts of the Omicron variant surge, saying closings of some retail stores did not likely have a big impact on Apple's online-heavy business. Analysts also are watching for signs that rising Omicron cases in China could impact Apple's production.

Apple, the first company worth $3 trillion, has been losing value along with the broader stock market. Apple stock has fallen 10 percent this month and the S&P 500 index has dropped 9 percent.

Analysts may also ask Apple management about App Store payment rules, after regulators in the Netherlands found that the US company had abused its market dominance by requiring dating app developers to exclusively use Apple's in-app payment system.

-reuters-

Asian markets down as investors look to uncertain 2022

HONG KONG - Asian stocks were mostly down in Wednesday trade as a "Santa Claus rally" showed signs of fatigue and continued fears over the Omicron variant -- as well as uncertainty about economic prospects for 2022 -- weighed on markets.

Covid-19 cases have surged across the world, prompting governments to impose new measures to limit contagion while the travel industry faced thousands of flight cancellations.

Warnings from the World Health Organization that the risk from the variant remains "very high" have compounded the sense that the pandemic is far from over, though data showing a reduced risk of hospitalization has lifted spirits.

Reflecting the uncertainty, Tokyo closed down in thin holiday trade on Wednesday, with the market weighed down by US futures losses.

Seoul was also down, while Sydney and Wellington rose. Europe opened mixed, with London's FTSE slightly up while Paris and Frankfurt fell. 

In China, markets fell, in a slide analysts partly attributed to losses in shares of major liquor brands -- including Kweichow Moutai, one of the world's biggest drinks companies.

"The drop is mostly contributed by some blue chips, in particular the baijiu names," Zhang Gang, a strategist at Central China Securities, told Bloomberg.

"It's likely that some funds want to cash out before the year-end after the recent rebound."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down as investors eyed uncertain prospects for 2022 as well as a continued debt crisis in the mainland's property market.

A continued regulatory clampdown by Beijing on overseas listings by Chinese firms has also weighed down markets -- though expectations that the country's central bank will add further stimulus in 2022 offered some hope.

FITS AND STARTS 

But trading volumes remain thin going into the new year, when prospects for global growth and the long-term impact of the Omicron variant are expected to become clearer.

Moody's economist Mark Zandi said in a note the Omicron wave would dent growth in the first quarter, but "not have a material impact" on 2022 overall because of a rebound later in the year.

"Even after the Omicron wave abates, there will almost surely be others. But we expect each new wave to be less disruptive to the healthcare system and economy than the wave before it," he said.

Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for Northern Trust Wealth Management, was also upbeat, saying her firm was "pretty constructive going into 2022".

"We're having fits and starts related to this Omicron variant of course. This will create maybe demand delayed but not destroyed," she told Bloomberg TV.

There was also optimism on oil markets, with crude holding a roughly one-month high on hopes that the Omicron variant will not dent global travel in the ways many had feared.

Agence France-Presse

Apple closes all New York City stores amid rising COVID-19 cases

Apple Inc said on it had closed all of its 7 New York City retail stores due to an increase in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant rages across the United States.

Customers will be able to pick up online orders at the stores, an Apple spokesperson said.

The closed stores include outlets at Fifth Avenue, Grand Central and SoHo.

Earlier this month, Apple said it had temporarily closed three stores in the United States and Canada after a rise in COVID-19 cases and exposures among the stores' employees.

For the same reason, Apple also mandated that all its customers and employees wear masks at its US retail stores.

Globally, concerns over the Omicron variant have prompted major companies to tighten their protocols.

Increasing cases has also resulted in reinstatement of a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses which covers 80 million American workers by a U.S. appeals court earlier this month. Opponents of the move have rushed to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene.

-reuters- 

Thousands of flights worldwide scrapped as Omicron hits Christmas weekend travel

More than 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the long Christmas weekend and thousands more were delayed, a tracking website reported Saturday, as the highly infectious Omicron variant brings holiday hurt to millions. 

Compounding the travel chaos in the United States, severe weather in the country's west is due to wreak havoc on roadways and other routes there although it may well bring a white Christmas weekend to northwest cities Seattle and Portland.

According to Flightaware.com, nearly 2,800 flights were scrubbed around the globe on Saturday, including more than 970 originating from or headed to US airports, with over 8,000 delays as of 0130 GMT.

On Friday, there were around 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, while Sunday cancellations have already surpassed 1,100.

Pilots, flight attendants and other employees have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to Covid, forcing Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines and many other short-staffed carriers to cancel flights during one of the year's peak travel periods.

"Help @united flight cancelled again. I want to get home for Christmas," one exasperated traveler from the US state of Vermont tweeted to the airline early Saturday.

Flightaware data showed United cancelled around 200 flights on Friday and nearly 250 Saturday -- about 10 percent of those that were scheduled.

A scramble to reroute pilots and planes and reassign employees was underway, but Omicron's surge has upended business.

"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation," United said in a statement Friday.

"As a result, we've unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport," the airline said.

Similarly, Delta scrapped 310 flights Saturday and was already cancelling several dozen more Sunday, saying it has "exhausted all options and resources -- including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying."

"We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans," the company said.

The cancellations added to the pandemic frustration for many people eager to reunite with their families over the holidays, after last year's Christmas was severely curtailed.

Chinese airlines accounted for the highest number of cancellations, with China Eastern scrapping more than 1,000 flights, over 20 percent of its flight plan, on Friday and Saturday and Air China also grounding about 20 percent of its scheduled departures over the period.

- 'Treacherous' snow conditions -

According to estimates from the American Automobile Association, more than 109 million Americans were scheduled to travel by plane, train or automobile between December 23 and January 2, a 34 percent increase over last year.

But most of those plans were made before the outbreak of Omicron, which has become the dominant strain in the United States, overwhelming some hospitals and healthcare workers.

The state of New York announced Friday that it recorded 44,431 new daily positive Covid tests, a record, while new cases surged nationwide as well.

On the weather front, while unseasonably warm temperatures were bathing eastern states, the National Weather Service announced winter storm warnings including a deep freeze for significant parts of the west. 

"Anomalously cold conditions and a barrage of Pacific moisture results in prolonged periods of mountain snow and coastal/valley rain, some of which may fall heavy at times," the NWS said in an advisory.

An eye-popping two to four feet (61 to 122 centimeters) of snow was forecast to fall this weekend, with higher accumulation in some spots, in the northern and central Sierra mountains of California and Oregon.

Travel will be "treacherous to at times impossible" from the Sierras to the central Rocky Mountains at the weekend due to whiteout snow conditions, the NWS added.

Agence France-Presse

Omicron wave forces Lufthansa to axe 33,000 flights

German national carrier Lufthansa will cut its winter flight plan by "around 10 percent" as the spread of the Omicron variant fuels uncertainty about travel, chief executive Carsten Spohr said Thursday.

"From the middle of January to February, we see a sharp drop off in bookings", leading the airline to cancel "33,000 flights or about 10 percent" of its flights this winter, Spohr said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS).

"Above all we are missing passengers in our home markets of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, because these countries have been hit hardest by the pandemic wave," Spohr said.

Europe's largest airline was currently running "about 60 percent" of flights compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019, carrying "roughly half" the number of passengers, the CEO said.

The number of cancellations would have been higher were the company not running 18,000 "extra, unnecessary flights just to secure our landing and takeoff rights," Spohr said.

The airline industry has been battered since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with countless flights grounded in 2020 as countries closed their borders.

The European airports association ACI Europe estimated on Thursday that the number of passengers travelling through its members had dropped 20 percent since November 24, when the Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization.

Germany has placed stricter limits on travellers coming from the United Kingdom and South Africa, among others, where the new variant has caused a surge in cases.

The sudden headwind for the industry also caused Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair to cut its planned January schedule by 33 percent this week.

- Sick pilots -

On Thursday, a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP the airline had already cancelled several transatlantic flights around Christmas, after the number of pilots calling in sick was greater than normal for this time of year.

Asked whether the absences were linked to the Omicron variant, the spokesman said he "could not speculate" as he did not have any information about the causes of illness.

In total, the airline has been forced to axe six flights between December 23 and 26, including services to Chicago, Boston and Washington.

The lack of personnel came despite Lufthansa's "big planned reserves" of crew, the spokesman said.

Swedish national carrier SAS on Wednesday also cancelled nine flights due to the coronavirus, after scrapping some 30 flights worldwide the day before.

Lufthansa posted its first operating profit since the beginning of the pandemic in the third quarter of this year, after a difficult 18 months.

The carrier booked an underlying, or operating loss of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2020 and turned to the state for support.

In November, Lufthansa announced it had finished paying back the nine-billion-euro bailout it received from the government earlier than planned.

Agence France-Presse

Spain to adopt mask-wearing outdoors amid record virus surge

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is convening a special Cabinet meeting Thursday to pass a law by decree that makes it mandatory to wear masks outdoors, amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases.

Sánchez announced at a meeting with the leaders of regional governments Wednesday that he was consenting to their appeals to extend mask-wearing rules, his office said. A decree-law does not require a debate and vote in parliament before taking effect.

He also announced a raft of other measures, including an offer to deploy the armed forces to help the regions step up their vaccination rollout and put military hospital beds at their disposal if they are needed.

Sánchez said he is targeting 80% of the 60-69 age group to have received booster shots by the end of next week, among other goals.

Also, COVID-19 tests for professional use will temporarily be placed on sale at pharmacies, amid a reported shortage of tests, and medical teams will be reinforced with retired staff and specialists who earned their qualifications outside the European Union.

Furthermore, fully vaccinated people won’t need to quarantine if they have been in contact with an infected person - a measure that seemed to be aimed at avoiding the shortages of essential personnel.

Spain on Tuesday officially recorded almost 50,000 new cases of coronavirus. That’s higher than last January, when a surge placed the national health system under severe strain.

Spain is reporting almost 700 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days, more than double the accumulated cases before last year’s Christmas holidays. The omicron strain has soared from 5% of new cases in Spain to 47% within one week.

Still, vaccinations are credited with sparing many people from the virus’s worst effects. While last January some 30,000 COVID-19 patients were in the hospital in Spain, now it’s fewer than 8,000.

Sánchez told the Spanish parliament Wednesday that 90% of the target population 12 and over is fully vaccinated.

He told lawmakers: “Don’t worry, families will be able to celebrate Christmas. Spain has prevailed.”

-Associated Press-

Wall Street bounces from Omicron selloff as Nike, Micron lead gains

Wall Street's main indexes rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday, boosted by Nike and Micron following strong earnings, while beaten-down big technology stocks bounced back from an Omicron-driven rout in the previous session.

The rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus has rattled stock markets around the world, triggering major sell-offs in the final month of the year due to worries about the strain's impact on a global economic recovery.

Nike Inc rose 6.6 percent, boosting the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It beat quarterly estimates for profit and revenue, and sounded confident of a letup in supply chain problems in its next fiscal year.

Micron Technology Inc, up 9.5 percent, led the advance among chipmakers after it forecast upbeat second-quarter earnings and topped Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and revenue.

The two companies positive updates helped allay some concerns about broader supply chain constraints in a high inflation environment, which has become a cause for concern for central banks globally.

Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose in early trading, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index gained 1.7 percent.

"We got oversold yesterday and we are bouncing back a little bit today," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.

"This market is more of a dead cat bounce as opposed to this new bull market that is going to rage into 2022. There are just too many concerns."

Mega-cap growth firms, including Tesla Inc, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc , Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc rose between 0.4 percent and 1.7 percent after taking a beating on Monday.

Investors have taken a more defensive stance this month, with sectors such as consumer staples, real estate and utilities among top gainers.

Most of the defensive plays made little gains on Tuesday.

"It's good to see green going into the next year but if you just take a step back and look at the broader picture you're seeing financial conditions change," said Joshua Chastant, senior investment analyst at GuideStone Capital Management.

"Our base case is that next year is going to have a lot of volatility around it, and it's definitely not going to be business as usual in the markets."

At 12:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 461.08 points, or 1.32 percent, at 35,393.24, the S&P 500 was up 49.49 points, or 1.08 percent, at 4,617.51 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 187.12 points, or 1.25 percent, at 15,168.07.

Travel-related stocks, which fell in the previous session on the prospect of tighter curbs, rose on Tuesday. The S&P 1500 Airlines index jumped 5.8 percent and was set for its best day since early December.

General Mills Inc fell 4.2 percent after missing analysts' estimates for quarterly profit.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.46-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.96-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded nine new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 20 new highs and 67 new lows. (Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Uttaresh.V and Maju Samuel)

-reuters-

Dollar shines, euro droops as Omicron spreads while Fed hawks circle

TOKYO - The US dollar hovered near the highest since July of last year against major peers on Monday after a Federal Reserve official signaled a first pandemic-era interest rate hike could come as early as March.

The euro sank with the British pound after the Netherlands went into lockdown on Sunday and Britain's health minister declined to rule out the chance of further restrictions before Christmas amid the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, stood at 96.629, not far from the peak at 96.938 reached last month.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday that the number of Omicron cases is doubling in 1.5 to 3 days in areas of the world with community transmission, but noted that much remains unknown about the variant, including the severity of the illness it causes.

On Friday, Fed Governor Chris Waller said an interest rate increase will likely be warranted "shortly after" the bank ends its bond purchases in March.

"Waller gave the (dollar index) a tailwind on Friday," which is now eyeing a new high, but "positioning is skewed long in USDs, so the prospect of position squaring into year-end is elevated," Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne, wrote in a client note.

"While central bank actions are the real issue, headlines on Omicron could be seen as the smoking gun for position squaring."

The greenback, which tends to attract demand as a safe haven, touched its highest since Dec. 15 against the euro, sterling and the risk-sensitive Australian dollar.

The dollar slipped though against fellow haven currency the yen, but still near the middle of the trading range of the past three weeks.

Ten-year US Treasury yields, to which the dollar-yen pair are often closely correlated, languished near a two-week low reached Friday. 

Earlier on Friday, New York Fed president John Williams told CNBC that the Fed will gain "optionality" to raise rates in 2022 by ending bond purchases by March.

Money markets price about 50-50 odds of a quarter point hike by March.

-reuters-

Italy tightens border rules amid omicron threat

Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated.

Previously, EU arrivals had to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test.

The decree signed by Health Minister Roberto Speranza late on Tuesday "provides for the obligation of a negative test on departure for all arrivals from European Union countries", a spokesperson said.

"For the unvaccinated, in addition to the negative test, a five-day quarantine is planned."

Unvaccinated people arriving from outside the bloc must already quarantine, and tests are required of those with jabs.

The new measures, valid from December 16 to January 31, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections sparked by the spread of the new Omicron variant.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which currently accounts for the bulk of the world's coronavirus cases.

Italy was the first EU country to experience a major outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020. 

In recent months, it has sought to control infections through the use of health pass showing proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test for everything from going to work to eating in restaurants.

More than 20,000 new cases were reported in Italy on Tuesday, and another 120 deaths.

Agence France-Presse

Bulls back in charge in global markets as omicron worries wane

LONDON - Waning Omicron COVID-19 variant worries and a timely booster shot of Chinese stimulus lifted world stock markets and oil on Tuesday and left traders offloading safe-haven currencies and bonds again.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was on track for its first back-to-back run of plus 1 percent gains since February while Asia saw record bounces from some of China's biggest firms such as Alibaba and Baidu.

The risk-on mood also helped the dollar climb against safe haven currencies such as the Japanese yen,, which had lost 0.6 percent overnight, as the confidence-sensitive Australian dollar also found buyers.

Safe-harbour government bonds went the other way with yields - which move inverse to bond prices - up 2.5 percent on Germany's benchmark 10-year Bund after falling to a three-month low on Monday.

Reports in South Africa said Omicron cases there had only shown mild symptoms and the top US infectious disease official, Anthony Fauci, told CNN "it does not look like there's a great degree of severity" so far.

"Good news relating to the severity of Omicron should be taken with a pinch of salt. Faster transmission could offset the benefits of milder symptoms," researchers at ING said in a note. "More broadly, it is still early days, even if markets are starting to display Omicron fatigue."

The gains also came after China's central bank on Monday injected its second shot of stimulus since July by cutting the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve.

There was still uncertainty about its property sector as Evergrande teetered on the brink of default again but data showing much stronger import growth was "a positive sign on the strength of domestic demand", RBC analyst Adam Cole said.

Elsewhere, Australia's S&P/ASX200 rose 0.95 percent, while Japan's Nikkei advanced 2.1 percent as risk-on sentiment pushed markets higher.

MSCI's main Asia ex-Japan benchmark has lost about 5 percent so far this year, with Hong Kong markets figuring among the big losers, while Indian and Taiwan stocks outperformed.

Shares in embattled developer Evergrande edged up 1.7 percent after hitting a record low on Monday as markets waited to see if the real estate giant has paid $82.5 million with a 30-day grace period coming to an end.

Elsewhere, markets were supported by gains on Wall Street, where economically sensitive stocks outperformed.

"While epidemiologists have rightly warned against premature conclusions on Omicron, markets arguably surmised that last week's brutal sell-off ought to have been milder," Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, said in a note.

"After all, early assessments of Omicron cases have been declared mild, spurring half-full relief."

Also supporting the dollar in FX markets was the expectation the Federal Reserve will accelerate the tapering of its bond-buying programme when it meets next week in response to a tightening labour market.

Oil prices jumped another 2 percent to $74.60 a barrel, adding to a near 5 percent rebound the day before as concerns about the impact of Omicron on global fuel demand eased.

Copper prices also ticked higher while gold was steady at $1,778.5 per ounce on expectations US consumer price data due later this week will show inflation quickening.

(Additional reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore; Editing by Nick Macfie)

-reuters-

Dutch authorities say 18 passengers from South Africa had Omicron

THE HAGUE—Dutch health authorities said on Saturday the final tally of passengers on two flights from South Africa last week who had tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant was 18.

The Netherlands' Institute for Health (RIVM) added in a statement that its investigation on passengers on the two flights has now been wrapped up.

The flights had already taken off on November 26 when the Dutch government introduced new travel restrictions due to worries about the newly detected Omicron variant.

More than 600 passengers traveling on the flights were kept isolated and tested for COVID-19, with 61 testing positive, including the 18 who were found to have the Omicron variant.

Those who tested positive but have no symptoms will be allowed out of isolation on Saturday while others will have to stay longer, the institute said.

It did not give details on the number of passengers that will be released from isolation. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg Editing by Helen Popper)

-reuters

5 cases of Omicron variant confirmed in New York state: governor

NEW YORK—The state of New York has confirmed 5 cases of the coronavirus Omicron variant, Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday, bringing the total number of US detections of the new strain to 8.

"New York State has confirmed 5 cases of the Omicron variant," Hochul said in a Twitter post aimed at reassuring residents of the nation's fourth most populous state that the detections were not unexpected.

"Let me be clear: This is not cause for alarm. We knew this variant was coming and we have the tools to stop the spread," she said.

"Get your vaccine. Get your booster. Wear your mask."

It was not immediately clear whether the new cases were in or near New York City -- the country's most populous metropolitan area -- and whether they were detected in people who had recently returned from traveling outside the country.

Eight cases have so far been confirmed in the United States, with at least one, in Minnesota, involving a person with no recent international travel history, signaling the strain is already circulating inside the country.

Hochul's figures followed the announcement by President Joe Biden that he is bolstering his administration's campaign against COVID-19 as the winter takes hold.

The new measures include requiring all inbound international travelers be tested within 1 day of flying, and an extension of mask mandates on public transportation through mid-March.

Agence France-Presse

Omicron in Europe before South Africa reported first cases

THE HAGUE - The Omicron coronavirus variant was present in Europe before the first cases were reported in South Africa, new data from the Netherlands showed Tuesday, as Latin America reported its first two cases in Brazil.

In the week since the new virus strain was reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa, dozens of countries around the world have responded with travel restrictions -- most targeting southern African nations.

But the World Health Organization warned Tuesday -- as Canada expanded its restrictions to also include Egypt and Nigeria -- that "blanket" travel bans risked doing more harm than good.

And the likely futility of broad travel restrictions was underscored as Dutch authorities reported that Omicron was present in the country before South Africa officially reported its first cases, on November 25.

The new variant -- whose high number of mutations the WHO believes may make it more transmissible or resistant to vaccines -- was found in two Dutch test samples from November 19 and 23, with one having no travel history.

With countries now on alert for the Omicron variant, a clearer picture is emerging by the day of where it has been circulating, and for how long.

So far, well over a dozen countries and territories have detected cases, including Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy and Portugal.

Among European countries, Belgium and Germany have both reported cases of the new strain prior to November 25, but both linked to foreign travel.

Latin America reported its first two cases Tuesday -- in people who traveled from South Africa to Brazil -- and a first case was confirmed in Japan, one day after it barred all foreign arrivals.

VACCINE RESISTANT?

While much is still unknown about the Omicron variant -- it could take weeks to determine whether and to what extent it is vaccine-resistant -- it has highlighted that the global fight against Covid-19 is far from over.

Asian, European and US markets all fell on Tuesday, while the benchmark US oil price tumbled more than five percent after the boss of vaccine manufacturer Moderna warned existing jabs might be less effective against the new variant.

"All the scientists I've talked to ... are like 'this is not going to be good'," Moderna boss Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times, warning against a "material drop" in the effectiveness of current jabs against Omicron.

Moderna, US drugmaker Pfizer and the backers of Russian vaccine Sputnik V are already working on an Omicron-specific vaccine.

On the treatment front, meanwhile, a panel of US health experts voted Tuesday to endorse Merck's Covid pill for high-risk adult patients, which is already authorized in Britain.

'HEAVY BURDEN'

In a briefing to WHO member states, the body's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was understandable for countries to seek to protect their citizens "against a variant we don't yet fully understand".

But he called for the global response to be "calm, coordinated and coherent", urging nations to "take rational, proportional risk-reduction measures".

The UN agency cautioned in a travel advisory that "blanket" travel bans risked placing a "heavy burden on lives and livelihoods" and could ultimately dissuade countries from sharing data about the evolving virus -- as South Africa did in reporting the latest variant.

But it did advise that people not fully vaccinated and considered vulnerable to Covid-19, including over-60s, should put off travel to areas with community transmission of the virus -- after correcting a previous statement that indicated all over-60s should defer travel.

TOUGHER MEASURES

Omicron has emerged as much of the world was already bracing for a new winter wave of the pandemic -- leaving even nations with high vaccination rates scrambling to stem infections and prevent health services from being overwhelmed. 

Governments, particularly in western Europe, have already reintroduced mandatory mask-wearing, social-distancing measures, curfews or lockdowns -- leaving businesses fearing another grim Christmas.

In Germany, incoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz said parliament would vote on making Covid vaccines compulsory by the end of the year -- and a source from Scholz's party told AFP he had "signaled his sympathy" for such a rule.

Greece went ahead Tuesday in making vaccines compulsory for over-60s, while Norway will offer booster shots to all adults before Easter, as preferable to a lockdown.

Britain meanwhile set a target of delivering third jabs to all adults within two months, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying vaccination centers would be "popping up like Christmas trees."

Agence France-Presse

From Hollywood to Detroit, pandemic-weary companies cautious on Omicron

Pandemic-weary corporations struggled to assess the impact of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Monday, with industries from Hollywood movie studios to airlines and autos awaiting more details to help determine how it might affect their operations and profits.

The World Health Organization warned on Monday the Omicron variant carries a very high global risk of infection surges. Spooked investors wiped roughly $2 trillion off global stocks on Friday, but markets regained some ground on Monday.

Countries have swiftly imposed bans on travel from southern Africa, where the variant was first uncovered. Japan and Israel went even further, announcing bans on all foreign visitors.

Some airlines said they were not heavily changing schedules, but industry sources said big carriers moved swiftly to protect their hubs by curbing passenger travel from southern Africa.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary saw no reason to cancel flights although he was worried about some countries potentially shutting air travel. Lufthansa, Germany's flagship airline, said its flights were still well booked.

US President Joe Biden met with chief executives of major retailers and other companies on Monday to discuss how to move goods to shelves as the US holiday shopping season begins in the shadow of Omicron.

Before the meeting, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon cited improvement in the supply chain, noting the retailer had seen a 26% increase in shipping containers going through U.S. ports over the past four weeks.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday it was too soon to tell if Omicron will have any impact on global supply chains.

The prospect of a fast-spreading variant has raised fears of a return of the sort of restrictions that shut down a swathe of industries in 2020.

In Hollywood, where production on film and television shows returned to pre-pandemic levels this summer thanks to stringent health and safety precautions, the studios were waiting to learn more about this latest mutation of the coronavirus.

"With COVID, it keeps shape shifting. It's like mercury -- we can't get our hands around it," said Dr. Neal Baer, a physician who was a longtime producer of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

"It's going to take a couple of weeks for us to know, one, how well vaccinations protect us, two, whether you need a booster and whether a booster helps or three, whether the vaccine needs to be modified to make it effective against this mutation."

Movie theater attendance has been returning in fits and starts since the summer, but a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners said variants remain a concern -- especially after the pullback in attendance that accompanied the Delta variant.

In the United States, auto plants were closed for two months last year. Even after automakers restarted operations, they have curtailed production schedules due to semiconductor chip shortages and other supply-chain constraints. Automakers said it was too soon to predict the impact of Omicron.

"This is new," Nissan Motor Co's US spokeswoman Lloryn love-Carter said. "We're monitoring of course, but we still have a lot of pretty strict COVID protocols in place."

General Motors Co, the largest US automaker, said it was watching closely and its COVID-19 safety protocols remain in place at its plants.

"We continue to strongly encourage our employees to get vaccinated given the broad availability of safe and highly efficacious vaccines," GM spokeswoman Maria Raynal said in an email. "We will continue to review and adjust our protocols as new information regarding this variant becomes available."

Toyota Motor Corp said its US management team will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Omicron variant.

"Right now we're in the 'gathering info' mode," Toyota's U.S. spokesman Scott Vazin said. "Since most of our employees are based in plants, we've never stopped COVID protocols such as social distancing, health screenings, masking up." 

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit, additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, Tim Hepher in Paris and Alex Alper in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff, Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler)

-reuters-  

OPEC postponses technical meetings to evaluate Omicron impact: sources

LONDON - OPEC and its allies have postponed technical meetings to later this week, giving themselves more time to assess the impact of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on oil demand and prices, according to OPEC+ sources and documents.

Oil prices crashed together with other financial markets on Friday by more than 10 percent, their largest one-day drop since April 2020, as the new variant spooked investors and added to concerns that a supply surplus could swell in the first quarter.

Friday's fall was exacerbated by low liquidity due to a US public holiday.

Before Friday, OPEC had already predicted the surplus would grow steeply after the United States and other major consumers decided to released oil stocks to help cool down prices.

OPEC and allies known as OPEC+ have move their joint technical committee to Wednesday from Monday, according to the documents. OPEC would hold a meeting the same day.

A joint ministerial monitoring committee will meet on Thursday instead of Tuesday, the documents showed, OPEC+ will also meet the same day, when a policy decision will likely be announced.

"We need more time to understand what this new variant is and if we need to overreact or not," one OPEC+ source said.

OPEC+ has been releasing 400,000 barrels per day of oil per month while winding down its record cuts from last year, when it cut production by as much as 10 million bpd to address lower demand caused by the virus lockdowns.

OPEC+ has some 3.8 million bpd of cuts still in place and some analysts have suggested the group could pause with the increases after the release of stocks and possible repercussions for demand from new lockdowns to contain the new variant.

-reuters- 

Thailand bans entry from 8 African countries over COVID Omicron variant

BANGKOK—Thailand said on Saturday it would ban the entry of people traveling from 8 African countries it designated as high risk for the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Starting in December, travel from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, will be prohibited, senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong told a news conference.

Thailand will not allow travelers from these countries to register to travel to Thailand starting on Saturday, he said.

The announcement came as other countries in Asia tighten borders over worries about the B 1.1.529 variant. The World Health Organization designated it the latest "variant of concern," saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.

"We have notified airlines and these countries," Opas said adding that travelers from other African countries will not be allowed to use the country's quarantine-free travel scheme for vaccinated travelers. (Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and William Mallard)

-reuters-