Joe Biden says Omicron no cause for panic as Israel announces fourth Covid-19 shots

Biden to offer millions of at-home Covid-19 tests to Americans, says ‘we’re prepared’ for Omicron

Israel announced that it will offer a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people older than 60

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US President Joe Biden speaks about Covid-19 and the Omicron variant. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 5:41am, 22 Dec 2021Updated: 10:59am, 22 Dec 2021

US President Joe Biden told Americans worried about the rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant that the country was “prepared” to fight it, as Israel – which pioneered the use of Covid vaccine boosters – announced fourth shots for those over 60 and health workers.

Omicron, now present in dozens of countries, appears to be more infectious than earlier coronavirus strains, despite early indications that it does not cause a more severe form of Covid-19 than the Delta variant.

Its lightning dash around the globe has led some governments to reimpose restrictions ahead of the holidays, dampening hopes the worst of the pandemic is over, or to re-evaluate their plans to halt the spread.

Biden announced a raft of new measures in a Tuesday afternoon televised address as the United States battles the latest surge in Covid-19 cases, including shipping half a billion free home tests in the wake of a serious Christmastime testing crunch.

“We should all be concerned about Omicron but not panicked,” Biden said from the White House, reassuring the public that the variant would not set the country back to March 2020.

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