Singapore reports first local Omicron coronavirus case

Singapore reported its first local Omicron case late on Thursday, with the health ministry saying it expected more cases of the new coronavirus variant at its borders given its high transmissibility. The patient is a 24-year-old airport employee who has no recent history of travel. She worked at the transport holding area and may have interacted with passengers from countries affected by the Omicron variant that was first documented in South Africa but has since spread to other parts of the world. The health ministry said in a statement that the woman tested positive for Covid-19 under the weekly testing regime for frontline workers. The ministry added that the patient “may have been in the early stages of infection”, adding that she was fully vaccinated and had no symptoms. Omicron variant: Hong Kong adds Singapore and Iceland to list of high-risk nations A second “preliminary positive” test result for the Omicron variant came from a permanent resident who returned to Singapore from France via Germany. She was travelling under the quarantine-free travel lane that the city state has with Germany for vaccinated individuals. The swab test that she did when she arrived in Singapore on December 6 returned negative but she developed a runny nose the next day. She was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Wednesday. Contact tracing for both cases is under way, with close contacts placed on a 10-day quarantine at designated facilities. As a precautionary measure, airport staff will now have to take daily antigen rapid tests on top of their weekly polymerase chain reaction ones. “Given its high transmissibility and spread to many parts of the world, we should expect to find more Omicron cases at our borders and also within our community,” the ministry added. Singapore now has five Omicron cases. It detected its first two on December 2 and the third case on December 5. All three patients were passengers on board the same flight from Johannesburg. Japan detects eight Omicron cases Japan has found eight new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, a government spokesperson said on Friday, bringing its total to 12. All the cases were detected during testing of arrivals at airports. Two of the new infections were close contacts of the first case, a diplomat from Namibia. Spokesperson Seiji Kihara declined to give further details on the eight passengers, but Nippon Television reported that they were traveling from the United States and parts of Africa. Japan has banned new foreign entrants to try to keep out the new variant. Australia to offer vaccines to children Australia will begin administering Covid-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 from January 10, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, after the rollout cleared final regulatory hurdles. “This will be welcome news for millions of families across the country who want the opportunity for their children to be vaccinated,” Morrison said in a statement. After reviewing clinical data from Canada, the country’s vaccination advisory group recommended an eight-week interval between the two doses, which can be shortened to three weeks if there is an outbreak. Pfizer doses will be administered in the initial phase, while regulators assess the suitability of Moderna shots. A decision is expected in the coming weeks. Coronavirus: Japan’s drop in cases baffles experts, defies Asia rebound The decision comes as Australia seeks to accelerate the rollout of booster shots after becoming one of the world’s most-vaccinated countries against Covid-19, inoculating nearly 90 per cent of its population above 16 with two doses. Some 70 per cent of children aged 12 to 15 have been fully vaccinated. Authorities have been urging people to take the booster shot amid concerns about the more transmissible Omicron variant and a steady rise in infections in Sydney, Australia’s largest city. New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, reported 516 new cases on Friday, its biggest rise in two months. Most were caused by the Delta variant but the number of Omicron infections has been creeping up since Australia reported its first case about two weeks ago. Some 50 cases have been detected so far, the majority in Sydney. Australia has reported about 225,000 Covid-19 cases and 2,084 deaths, far fewer than many comparable countries. Additional reporting by Reuters