The UK Cabinet is discussing the next move as Omicron scans Europe

By William James and Kylie MacLellan

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s cabinet met on Monday as pressure to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant grew as the Netherlands imposed a fourth blockade and other European countries wanted to tighten it at Christmas.

Omicron infections are proliferating rapidly in Europe and the United States, doubling every two to three days in London and elsewhere, and hurting financial markets as they fear the impact of a global economic recovery.

The variant was first detected last month in South Africa and Hong Kong and has been reported so far in at least 89 countries. The severity of the disease it causes is unclear.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the closure at https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/netherlands-starts-painful-christmas-coronavirus-lockdown-2021-12-19 on Saturday, ordering the closure of all. essential shops, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places from Sunday to January 14th at least.

The UK has reported a record number of COVID-19 cases in recent days.

“At the moment we are still monitoring the data and we are seeing it very well,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said when asked about the possibility of further cuts. “We will update the citizens if more measures are needed, as soon as possible.”

The Sun newspaper said no forecast was expected on Monday.

Any decision to limit how people can celebrate Christmas would come at a huge political cost to Johnson, whose power has been weakened by whether he and his staff broke the lockout rules last year.

Germany expects to limit private gatherings from December 28 from COVID-19 to 10 people who are vaccinated or cured, according to a draft measure seen by Reuters on Monday.

The document also said that access to restaurants would be restricted to people who could provide vaccination or proof of recovery.

Ireland ordered bars and restaurants to close at 8pm on Friday and reduced capacity at all public events. Italy is also considering new measures, newspapers reported on Sunday.

FOOTBALL AND CONSUMPTION

Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower on Monday, raising concerns about the impact of the tight cuts on COVID-19 on the global economy. They fell by 143.32 points, or 0.41%, to 35,222.12. [MKTS/GLOB]

European shares fell 1.33% at 11440 GMT. The number of shoppers on UK main streets fell by 2.6% on the weekend of December 18-19 compared to the previous weekend, the Springboard researcher said.

Last week, the European Central Bank cut its forecast for eurozone growth for next year to 4.2% from the previous 4.6%, citing the pandemic as “against the wind”.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said that while the economy was learning to adapt to COVID-19, drastic cuts could delay the recovery.

Gilles Moec, chief economist of the Axa Group, said in a statement on Monday that a “mediocre” in the first quarter of the year is now possible in Europe and the United States.

“Beyond government measures, which are increasingly serious and are already affecting the travel industry in many European countries, businesses are often” getting their hands on things “and returning to work from home, including in US cities that have not promised it (e.g. New York City) “Fewer feet are likely to affect consumption.”

Israel added the United States to its “no-fly” list, citing concerns about the Omicron variant. U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Omicron was “outraged around the world” because it had asked Americans to take booster shots.

Since the beginning of the month, COVID cases in the US have risen by 50%, according to a Reuters count.

New York State registered more than half of its third case record in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the country to “go to war” to fight Omicron vaccines.

Booster shots, in addition to two-shot shots, seem to be key to dealing with the variant. Modern (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc. said on Monday that a dose of its vaccine might be a protection against Omicron in laboratory tests, and that the current version of the plan would be Modern’s “first line of defense.”

Australia, for its part, is easing its borders despite plans to increase the number of infections, as the vaccine will help keep people out of the hospital.

More than 274 million people have been reported to be infected with coronavirus worldwide https://tmsnrt.rs/2FThSv7 in China since the first cases were identified in December 2019. More than 5.65 million people have been killed.

The World Economic Forum postponed its annual meeting in Davos on Monday due to the expansion of Omicron, postponing the event scheduled for January to mid-2022.

Interactive graph of the global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/2FThSv7 in an external browser.

Eikon users can click https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1063154666 to follow up on cases.