The Omicron coronaviruses variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it sparks milder disease, as daily case records fell across Europe and the US while China, South Africa and Germany brought back tough restrictions to stamp out infections.
The Covid-19 surge has wreaked havoc around the world, forcing many nations to make tough choices between economic restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.
The United States halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruption, while France ordered companies to have employees work from home at least three days a week.
Germany had contact restrictions in place for the second year in a row, as the economy shut nightclubs and forced sports tournaments to be held behind closed doors.
China has not relaxed its "zero Covid" strategy despite facing a much smaller outbreak than the global one.
A delivery rider is on an empty street near Yongning gate, which has been under lock and key for six days. The picture was taken by REX/Shutterstock.
Hundreds of thousands of affected residents joined 13 million other people in the city of Xi'an who entered a sixth day of home confinement as China battled its highest daily case numbers in 21 months.
One person from Xi'an wrote on the Weibo platform that he was about to die.
I have no food, my housing compound won't let me out, and I'm about to run out of instant noodles.
Many people in the city complain on social media about the restrictions, which include a ban on driving and only one member of a household allowed to go outside for groceries every three days.
The city of Wuhan was cut off from the world in the early days of the Pandemic in China.
Efforts to trace the contacts of people with coronaviruses will be reintroduced by South Africa after a backlash.
The health authorities said on Thursday that they would stop tracing contact between people in order to make sure that most of the population had already been exposed to the virus.
The Department of Health was overwhelmed with media, stakeholders and public inquiries after the release of the revised regulations.
The Netherlands and Switzerland both said Tuesday that the Omicron variant has become the dominant strain in their countries.
The Greek health authorities said the rise of Omicron was to blame for the new daily record.
The WHO warned against being lulled into a false sense of security even though preliminary findings suggest that Omicron could lead to milder disease.
The WHO Europe's Covid incident manager, Catherine Small, warned that a rapid growth of Omicron would cause large numbers of hospitalisations, particularly amongst unvaccinated groups, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services.
The WHO highlighted the 29% decrease in the incidence of cases observed in South Africa, the country which first reported the variant to the WHO on 24 November.
It said early data from Britain, South Africa and Denmark suggested that Omicron was less likely to be hospitalized than Delta.
Further data was needed to understand Omicron's severity in terms of clinical markers. More data was needed on how the severity might be impacted by previous Covid infections.
European nations brought back curbs to hold back the tide.
France stopped short of issuing a stay-at- home order but called on employers to make staff work from home three days a week.
Unvaccinated foreign travellers will be barred from entering, according to the country. Residents, essential workers, and diplomats will be exempt.
On Tuesday, Sweden began requiring negative tests for incoming non-resident travellers, a day after Denmark, which has the highest rate of infections per capita, applied the same measure.
Nightclubs have been closed and private gatherings limited to 10 vaccine-vaccinated people in Germany. All sports events will be held behind closed doors.
A Berlin resident told Agence France-Presse that something has to be done to bring the infections down.
Not everyone accepted the measures.
At least 12 police officers were injured when protesters threw fireworks or bottles at them during a march across Germany late Monday.
The Pandemic has been punishing the economy, in particular for travel.
One of the busiest travel periods of the year has resulted in the cancellation of over a thousand flights.
Several airlines have blamed staffing shortages on Omicron cases.
Large pockets of unvaccinated residents and a lack of easy access to quick and easy testing have helped fuel the surge in the US.
President Joe Biden said Monday that some US hospitals could be overrun, but that the country was generally well prepared.
The impact of the initial Covid outbreak and the Delta variant surge this year will not be the same as with Omicron.
Biden said that Omicron should not be a source of panic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut the isolation period for asymptomatic cases from 10 to five days in an effort to prevent mass labour shortages during the surge.
The US is closing in on a daily high of 250,000 cases, which was recorded in January.
With Agence France-Presse.
