COVID-19

It comes as the US reached 50 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Monday.

Most deaths have been recorded among the unvaccinated and the elderly, and more Americans died in 2021 than in 2020.

The US is again seeing deaths rising at an alarming rate.

The last 100,000 deaths came in just the past 11 weeks, a quicker pace than any at other point aside from last winter's surge.

Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries.

But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to detect it, and was spreading at an unprecedented rate.

Dr Tedros said he was concerned that Omicron was being underestimated.

"Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems," he said.

"They're prioritising coordinating with the Pacific region - particularly Māori and Pasifika - as a key to maintaining an indigenous focus," she said.

Government officials plan to go to market early next year to speak with those interested in managing the fund.

New Zealand's Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth Phil Twyford said if things remain on track, investments for projects will made by the end of next year.

Anyone working in healthcare or with the public has to be vaccinated against Covid-19 according to the law adopted in late August.

However, there have been several legal challenges, which prompted the government to defer the law's enforcement from October to December.

An interim ruling had affirmed the law's validity but now the Paris court has given its full approval, which has been welcomed by the government.

A general strike last month failed to get the government to drop the law, which will now be applied from 23 January.

The new competition was thrown into confusion after the New Zealand government revealed a border opening plan that made it impossible for the trans-Tasman competition to proceed as planned.

However, Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos told reporters on Friday that Super Rugby clubs on both sides of the Tasman were committed to getting contingency plans over the line, and were close to doing so.

“What I can say is that our teams and the New Zealand teams are working furiously to get a revised draw,” Marinos said.

The three-year programme, which is part of a partnership between the charity Rotary and UNICEF, the UN children's agency, involves delivering vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease, while teenage girls will also be immunised to protect them from cervical cancer.

The vaccine rollout will run in Nauru, as well as Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue and Palau.

Work has started in Nauru, where Mizuli Apadinuwe's 14-year old daughter received the human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.

With countries including the United States, India and France reporting their first Omicron cases, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she hoped the pandemic would not completely stifle economic activity.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, but it could cause significant problems. We're still evaluating that," she told the Reuters Next conference.

The new measures in Germany focus on the unvaccinated, who will only be allowed in essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while legislation to make vaccination mandatory will be drafted for early next year.

Scientists have detected a surge in the number of people catching Covid-19 multiple times.

It is a rapid analysis and not definitive, but fits with concern about the mutations the variant possesses.

It is also unclear what this means for the protection given by vaccines.

A week after the variant was named Omicron, the world is still scrambling to understand the true threat posed by the variant. But now the first of pieces of a large and complex puzzle are starting to be assembled.

The men, who are 66 years and 46 years old, are currently under observation, a government spokesperson said.

These are the first cases of the new Omicron variant to be reported in India.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Omicron poses a "high infection risk".

Officials said all primary contacts and secondary contacts of the two men have been traced and are being tested as well.

In its latest travel advisory, the UN agency includes in that category people over 60, and those with conditions such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

It also restates its position that blanket travel bans do not prevent the spread of the variant.

South Africa alerted the world about the variant last week.

Many countries then proceeded to impose restrictions on travel from countries in southern Africa.

"Blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods," the WHO said in its statement.