Companies are cautious about the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant on Reuters

By Ben Klayman

(Reuters) – Corporations tired of the pandemic made an effort to assess the impact of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Monday as they waited for details from airlines and cars to determine how it could affect their operations and profits.

The World Health Organization warned on Monday that the Omicron variant carries a very high global risk of an increase in infections. Frightened investors withdrew about $ 2 trillion from global stocks on Friday, but markets calmed down on Monday.

Countries have quickly imposed bans on travel from southern Africa, where the variant was first found. Japan and Israel went further, announcing bans on all foreign arrivals.

Some airlines said they were not changing schedules much, but industry sources said large carriers were moving quickly to protect their hubs by reducing passenger travel in southern Africa, fearing Omicron’s expansion could lead to restrictions from other destinations.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary saw no reason to cancel the flights, although he was concerned that some countries could close air travel. The main German airline Lufthansa said its flights were still well filled.

U.S. President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet with CEOs of major retailers and other companies on Monday to discuss how to move goods to the shelves as the U.S. holiday shopping season begins in the shadow of Omicron.

Trade Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday that it was too early to say whether Omicron would affect global supply chains.

The possibility of a rapidly expanding variant has sparked fears of a return to cuts that will close part of the industry by 2020.

In the United States, car factories were closed for two months last year. Even after automakers restarted operations, production schedules have been reduced due to shortage of semiconductor chips and other limitations in the supply chain. The automakers said it was too early to predict the impact of Omicron.

“This is new,” said Nissan (OTC 🙂 Motor Co. U.S. spokeswoman Lloryn love-Carter. “We’re tracking it, of course, but we still have fairly strict COVID protocols in place.”

General Motors Co. (NYSE :), the largest auto manufacturer in the U.S., said it was watching carefully and that its COVID-19 safety protocol is still in place at its plants.

“We continue to strongly encourage our staff to be vaccinated because safe and highly effective vaccines are available,” GM spokeswoman Maria Raynal said in an email. “We will continue to review and adjust our protocols as new information on this variant becomes available.”

Toyota Motor (NYSE 🙂 Corp said the U.S. management team will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Omicron variant and whether the Japanese automaker should take further steps.

“Right now, we’re in a position to‘ gather information ’,” said Scott Vazin, a U.S. spokesman for Toyota. “Since most of our employees are in factories, we have never stopped COVID protocols, such as social distance, health performances, masquerades.”

Ford Motor (NYSE 🙂 Co., Stellantis and Volkswagen (DE 🙂 also said they continue to follow strict safety protocols for workers at all U.S. facilities.