Day: December 8, 2021

Omicron Not More Severe Than Delta Variant Of Covid: Top US Scientist

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Omicron Not More Severe Than Delta Variant Of Covid: Top US Scientist

Top US scientist Anthony Fauci said Tuesday early indications suggested the Covid-19 Omicron variant was not worse than prior strains, and was possibly milder, while cautioning it would take weeks to judge its severity. Speaking to AFP, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor broke down the knowns and unknowns about Omicron into three major areas: transmissibility, how well it evades immunity from prior infection and vaccines, and severity of illness. The new variant is “clearly highly transmissible,” very likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain, Fauci said….

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U.S. Detects the Omicron COVID-19 variant in 19 States

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U.S. Detects the Omicron COVID-19 variant in 19 States

The fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus has now been reported in 50 countries and 19 states, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She added, “we expect that number to continue to increase.” States that have detected the variant range from Hawaii to Texas to Massachusetts. The reports are part of a new surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. that now tops 100,000 cases per day. While officials and researchers are concerned about the transmissibility of the omicron variant, they also…

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US Announces Diplomatic Boycott Of China’s 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

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US Announces Diplomatic Boycott Of China’s 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

The United States Monday announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a calibrated rebuke of China’s human rights record that stops short of preventing US athletes from competing. The decision comes after Washington spent months wrangling with what position to take on the Games, hosted in February next year by a country it accuses of perpetrating “genocide” against Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region. There was no immediate reaction from Beijing, but the Chinese foreign ministry had earlier threatened “resolute countermeasures” to any such boycott. The…

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U.S. to boost troops presence in Europe if Russia attacks Ukraine

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U.S. to boost troops presence in Europe if Russia attacks Ukraine

The United States will impose “severe economic harm” on Russia and boost its military presence in Eastern Europe should Moscow invade Ukraine, the White House warned on Monday, laying out the high stakes on the eve of talks between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. The U.S. President will also quickly inform his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of the details of his discussion with Mr. Putin, taking place by videoconference on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of Russian troops were positioned near the Ukraine border, a senior U.S. official told…

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