 | | | | Quebec, the second most populous Canadian province, has "no choice" but to allow some essential workers to continue working even after testing positive for COVID-19 to prevent staff shortages from impeding its healthcare services, Health Minister Christian Dube said Tuesday. | | | | | | Activist investment firm Jana Partners wants Encompass Health to re-engage with interested third parties on a potential merger for its home health and hospice business before moving forward with a planned spin-off of the unit, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. | | | | | | The Omicron variant was estimated to be 58.6% of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States as of Dec. 25, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday. | | | | | | Italy reported 202 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 142 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 78,313 from 30,810, hitting a fresh record in terms of new cases since the start of the pandemic. | | | | | | New York City will stop quarantining entire classrooms exposed to the coronavirus and will instead prioritize a ramped-up testing program so that asymptomatic students testing negative for COVID-19 can remain in school, officials said on Tuesday. | | | | | | South Africa has recalled rules that no longer required people without symptoms of COVID-19 to isolate or test if they have been in contact with a positive case, the government announced on Tuesday, saying an amended circular will be re-issued. | | | | | | Cyprus on Tuesday recorded a single-day record high of COVID-19 infections since the virus was first identified on the island in March 2020, data showed on Tuesday. | | | | | | France reported a record high of 179,807 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period on Tuesday, one of the highest one-day tallies worldwide since the start of the pandemic. | | | | | | Turkey's daily coronavirus cases exceeded 30,000 for the first time since October 19 on Tuesday, health ministry data showed, as Health Minister Fahrettin Koca warned against rising cases due to the Omicron variant. | | | | | | Britain reported a record 129,471 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would not bring in new restrictions this year to limit the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus. | | | | | |
