Omicron warning COVID-19 fears dash hopes for Xmas again
JAKARTA — Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged people to stick to health protocols and ensure they are vaccinated against COVID-19, after the world’s fourth most populous country detected its first domestic case of the Omicron variant. Jokowi, as the president is known, said the arrival of the highly transmissible variant, which has been reported in more than 75 countries, had been inevitable and warned the public against being complacent while less stringent measures were in place.
LINES again stretch around blocks at some COVID-19 testing sites.
Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections.
This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a redux of restrictions, cancellations and rising angst over the never-ending pandemic.
“This year, more than ever, everyone needed a holiday,” said John McNulty, owner of Thief, a Brooklyn bar that had to close for a day earlier this week because of an infected employee.
As Christmas and New Year’s approach, a pall lingers over the season. Infections are soaring around the world, and the quickly spreading Omicron variant has triggered new restrictions on travel and public gatherings reminiscent of the dark days of 2020.
The accelerating cancellations seem “to have thrown us back into that sort of zombie world of the first week of March of the pandemic last year,” said Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewery and chain of pubs. In Philadelphia, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole urged residents not to go to indoor holiday parties, calling them “just too dangerous”.