WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday more federal vaccination and testing sites to tackle a surge in COVID-19 driven by the Omicron variant, and said 500 million free at-home rapid tests will be available to Americans starting in January.

Biden offered both a warning to the unvaccinated, who he said have “good reason to be concerned,” and reassurance that those who are inoculated can gather for the holidays despite the new variant sweeping the country.

“No this is not March of 2020,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated, we’re prepared, we know more.”

Biden‘s remarks came as some cities and states imposed new measures aimed at protecting the public, including stricter vaccine mandates.

Striking a dire tone about the risks to the one-in-four American adults who are not fully vaccinated, Biden said they “have a significantly higher risk of ending up in the hospital or even dying.”

Biden noted that former President Donald Trump has also received his booster shot. “Maybe one of the few things he and I agree on,” he said.

The measures laid out on Tuesday include activating new pop-up vaccination clinics run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and federal testing sites starting this week, including in hot spot New York City.

Biden also said that some 1,000 military doctors, nurses and medics have been deployed to support hospitals already being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients in some areas.

Biden‘s pandemic response has been criticized https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rising-cases-omicron-highlight-holes-bidens-covid-strategy-experts-say-2021-12-20 for focusing on vaccines at the detriment of testing and masking, and for underestimating the impact of the anti-vaccine movement in the United States.

In his speech, Biden said Americans had a patriotic duty to get vaccinated and called out social media companies and TV networks for “peddling lies and allowing misinformation that can kill their own customers.”

The new federal measures will not be fully in place by Christmas, leaving many Americans scrambling to find available tests ahead of holiday gatherings and travel – and confused about whether it is safe to press ahead with their plans.

The Omicron variant, which was first detected last month and now accounts for 73% of U.S. cases, is causing infections to double in 1.5 to 3 days, according to the World Health Organization. It is not yet known whether it causes more serious illness than the Delta variant.

The rapid rise of infections is once again disrupting life across the country, canceling events from Broadway shows to professional sports.

In New York, Washington and other U.S. cities there were long lines for COVID-19 tests as people sought to find out if they were infected before celebrating the holidays.

“If I don’t, I could take a chance of sending it home to my family, and I’m not trying to do that,” said Ronald Tives as he lined up in Washington’s Farragut Square on Tuesday.

$100 FOR A BOOSTER IN NYC

With new infections spiking, local officials are also taking steps to encourage vaccinations, including boosters, and increase testing and mitigation measures.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday a $100 incentive for residents who get a COVID-19 vaccine booster at city-run sites by the end of the year.

The city’s public hospitals said they would ban most visitors. Starting on Wednesday, only hospitalized infants and children, women in labor and dying patients can have visitors. They must be fully vaccinated or show a negative COVID-19 test from the past 24 hours.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Twitter that all healthcare workers would be required to receive booster vaccines. The state is expected to announce additional measures on Wednesday.

Chicago will require patrons to present proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for entry to restaurants, bars, gyms and some other indoor spaces, effective Jan. 3, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Tuesday.

Biden noted that the Omicron variant is so contagious that it will infect vaccinated Americans but that they will be far less likely to become seriously ill.

These breakthrough infections are rising among the 61% of the country’s fully vaccinated population, including the 30% who have gotten booster shots.

Still, Biden told Americans that those who are vaccinated and follow guidance around using masks, especially while traveling, should feel comfortable celebrating the holidays as planned.

New COVID-19 cases rose 19% in the United States in the past week and are up 72% since the start of December, according to a Reuters tally.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has increased 27% this month, with hospitals in some areas already strained by the Delta variant that emerged earlier this year.

There have been more than 51 million infections and 810,000 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the United States since the pandemic began, the most of any country. – Reuters

SHANGHAI – China has the confidence, condition, and ability to keep economic growth at a reasonable level, a senior state planning official told the Xinhua News Agency.

The world’s second-largest economy faces multiple challenges heading into 2022, amid a property downturn and with strict COVID-19 curbs in some areas hurting consumer spending.

China should evaluate the likely impact of policies on growth before implementation, and “be prudent” in rolling out those with contractionary effects, Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in the interview that was published on Wednesday.

The country will make preparations for next year’s economic work in advance and “strive to stabilize economic operations in the first quarter, the first half and even the whole year”.

China issued 1.46 trillion yuan ($229.21 billion) in the 2022 advance quota for local government special bonds to help spur investment and support the economy, the finance ministry said last week.

China will step up government spending, strengthen support to manufacturers and small companies, and ensure price stability, Ning added.

China will also work to stabilise industry supply chains, focus on solving chip shortage issues, and step up monitoring of commodity prices, said Ning, who is also the head of the National Bureau of Statistics.

To aid economic growth, China will continue to implement proactive fiscal policies, step up efforts to build an integral domestic market, while further shortening the foreign investment “negative list”, Xinhua quoted Ning as saying.

China uses a so-called negative list to ban or limit foreign investment in some industries, such as telecoms or resources.

China will also combine cross-cyclical and counter-cyclical measures to prevent wild economic volatility, Ning said. – Reuters

WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Russia continues to move away from commitments it made to join the World Trade Organization in 2012, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Tuesday, citing agricultural import restrictions and import substitution policies.

In an annual report to Congress on Russia‘s WTO compliance, USTR said Russia in 2021 introduced new tracking systems for consignments of goods through supply chains and has maintained non-science-based agricultural import restrictions.

“Over the past year, Russia has continued its trajectory of an economy moving away from the guiding principles of the WTO: non-discrimination, freer trade, predictability, transparency, and fair competition,” USTR said in the report.

“Rather, Russia maintains restrictive at-the-border measures, institutes behind-the-border measures to inhibit trade, and implements an industrial policy seemingly driven by the guiding principles of import substitution and forced localization.”

The United States has raised concerns about Russia‘s actions and will “use all appropriate means to resolve the matter and keep Russia’s markets open to U.S. exports,” USTR said.

The report noted that U.S. bilateral work with Russia on agricultural trade issues has been limited since 2014 due to Russia‘s actions in eastern Ukraine, and engagement in the WTO on Russia‘s access barriers has been limited. But the agency said it will continue to meet with industry stakeholders to discuss their concerns and strategies to remove such barriers.

The report did not mention any new U.S. trade measures that could be taken against Russia should Russian President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine. If that should happen, U.S. officials are considering tough export control measures to disrupt Russia‘s economy, a Biden administration official told Reuters, including halting Moscow’s ability to import smartphones, key aircraft and auto parts and other materials.  – Reuters

British Columbia will shut gyms, bars and nightclubs while allowing fewer people at tables in restaurants and cafes through the Christmas holiday period to curtail the spread of COVID-19, the Canadian province’s government said on Tuesday.

The temporary restrictions, to take effect on Wednesday and stay in place until Jan. 18, also include a ban on all indoor social events and gatherings, and a capacity limit of 50% for all concerts, sports games and theatres.

Coronavirus infections are rapidly increasing in Canada, with several of the 10 provinces reporting big jumps as Omicron replaces Delta as the dominant variant.

“COVID-19 cases continue to increase at a concerning rate, and we must take stronger measures to help protect British Columbians and ensure our health-care system is there when people need it,” said the province’s health minister Adrian Dix.

The neighbouring province of Alberta, where cases are also rising, said it would restrict attendance in venues that can hold more than 1,000 people to 50% capacity, a move that will also apply to National Hockey League games and the World Junior Hockey Championship, which begins on Dec. 26.

Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, declared a state of emergency earlier on Tuesday to combat the virus.

Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province, has also shut bars, gyms and casinos, and ordered people to work from home to try to reduce the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. – Reuters

AstraZeneca Plc said on Tuesday it is working with Oxford University to produce a vaccine for the Omicron coronavirus variant, joining other vaccine-makers who are looking to develop the variant-specific vaccine.

“Together with Oxford University, we have taken preliminary steps in producing an Omicron variant vaccine, in case it is needed and will be informed by emerging data,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.

Oxford did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.

The Financial Times first reported the news, citing Sandy Douglas, a research group leader at Oxford.

“Adenovirus-based vaccines (such as that made by Oxford/AstraZeneca) could in principle be used to respond to any new variant more rapidly than some may previously have realised,” Douglas told FT.

A lab-study last week found that AstraZeneca‘s antibody cocktail Evusheld retained neutralising activity against the Omicron variant.

Vaccine makers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna also previously said they were working on Omicron– specific COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna said hopes to start clinical trials early next year. – Reuters