UK government rules out new restrictions before Christmas | AP News LONDON (AP) — The British government said Thursday it won’t introduce any new coronavirus restrictions until after Christmas, and called early studies on the severity of the omicron variant encouraging. AP NEWS

... Health Secretary Sajid Javid said two studies suggesting omicron carries a significantly lower risk of hospitalization than the previously dominant delta strain was “encouraging news.” But he said it was “not very clear yet ... by how much that risk is reduced.” ...

Covid could take on a similar ebb and flow to the flu, but there is plenty left to figure out about just how severe and disruptive it will continue to be.

SEATTLE — Early in the pandemic, many people seized on the hope that Covid-19 could be stopped in its tracks and buried for good once vaccines rolled out.

But hope for a zero-Covid country fizzled for most scientists long ago. 

“Everyone has stopped talking about getting rid of Covid,” Dr. Elizabeth Halloran, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said of her fellow researchers. “It’s not going away, and that means it’s going to be endemic.” 

Early studies suggest a reduced risk of Covid-19 hospitalization when infected with Omicron compared to Delta --CNN overview

Israel set to offer fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 Israel announced on Tuesday that it will offer a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to people older than 60, amid concern about the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Reuters Reuters

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