 | | | | The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday. | | | | | | A U.S. federal agency on Saturday said it could start issuing citations to companies as soon as Jan. 10 for failure to comply with a nationwide mandate that they either vaccinate or test regularly for COVID-19, as a U.S. Supreme Court showdown over the policy looms. | | | | | | Scientific advisors to Britain's government said it was "almost certain" that hundreds of thousands of people were being infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant every day and hospital admissions were likely to surge. | | | | | | Britain reported a surge in cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday which government advisors said could be just the tip of the iceberg, and London's mayor declared a "major incident" to help the city's hospitals cope. | | | | | | Cases in the United Kingdom of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus jumped sharply to almost 25,000 while the total number of reported deaths among people with it so far roseto seven, according to British health authorities. | | | | | | Germany's regional health ministers urged the national government on Saturday to introduce tougher rules on people arriving from Britain, where the Omicron coronavirus variant has sparked a surge in infections. | | | | | | A U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses, which covers 80 million American workers, prompting opponents to rush to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene. | | | | | | Nurses wearing reindeer antler headbands danced to festive music and Santa Claus showed up at a Lisbon vaccination centre on Saturday as young children started to receive their COVID-19 shots. | | | | | | The highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading quickly in Italy, with new cases identified in the country's north and south, the national health institute (ISS) said on Saturday. | | | | | | Swiss ski lifts are open for foreign visitors as long as they respect the rules that the government has introduced to try and break the momentum of the coronavirus pandemic, Health Minister Alain Berset said on Friday. | | | | | |
