Tag Archives: EF:WORLD-GREAT-REBOOT

Business

Google propels record Alphabet revenue, driving shares up 8%

Leave a comment

The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Feb 1 (Reuters) – Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets.

Alphabet’s shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading, also rising on the company’s announcement that it would undertake a 20-to-one stock split.

The results were the latest to reinforce that the global trend toward a more digital economy has made Big Tech companies resistant to small-market shocks. While concerns about rising inflation, COVID-19 variants and supply-chain shortages have rattled Wall Street and hurt sales at some businesses, the companies that control key gateways to e-commerce, hybrid work and streaming entertainment have not seen a dip since the early days of the pandemic.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Alphabet’s sales jumped 32% to $75.3 billion in the fourth quarter, for a third straight quarterly sales record and topping the average estimate of $72 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv.

Consumers dove into Google search looking for apparel and hobbyist items, while retail, finance, entertainment and travel advertisers raised marketing budgets, Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on an earnings call.

Analysts said Google, which generates more revenue from internet ads than any other company, is proving that its growth is unstoppable for the foreseeable future.

“The pandemic has handily accelerated the world’s reliance on digital advertising,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Sitting through traditional TV advert breaks or reading billboards suddenly feels completely archaic in the age of streaming and mobile phone addiction.”

Shares of Alphabet rose 8.6% in after-hours trading, to $2,990.10, erasing their losses for the year-to-date. Shares of competitors in online ads including Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), Trade Desk Inc (TTD.O) and Snap Inc (SNAP.N) all rose as well.

Under the planned 20-for-one stock split, investors as of July 1 will receive 19 additional shares for each one held. The split, which is subject to shareholder approval, will make the stock more affordable and potentially eligible for inclusion in more market indexes.

Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) rallied in 2020 after splits, but increasingly brokerages such as Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) allow purchases of fractional shares, diminishing some benefit of the tactic.

BANNER YEAR

For the 2021 full year, Alphabet’s sales rose 41% to a record $258 billion. Sales had grown just 13% in 2020, the slowest rate in over a decade, after advertisers slashed spending in the first few weeks of the pandemic.

Across both 2021 and 2020, Google’s advertising business, including YouTube, accounted for 81% of Alphabet’s revenues.

Companies including Amazon.com Inc and ByteDance’s TikTok have been taking small pieces of Google’s share of the global advertising market. But market forecasters do not expect major slippage in Google’s leading position. Google’s secondary businesses, including Cloud, also have been lifting overall sales.

Google Cloud, which serves clients such as online shopping software maker Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), increased quarterly revenue by 45% to $5.5 billion, above estimates of $5.4 billion.

The division’s operating loss narrowed by 45% to $3.1 billion in 2021.

Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told analysts that Cloud is exploring how to support clients that want to use blockchain, one of several emerging technologies that proponents view as crucial to kickstarting a new era of online innovations.

Alphabet also reported a quarterly sales record during the holiday season for its Google Pixel smartphones, despite what Pichai called “extremely challenging” supply constraints.

Alphabet’s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion, or $30.69 per share, beating expectations of $27.56 per share and marking a fourth straight quarter of record profit. The profit benefited from unrealized gains from Alphabet’s investments in startups, and the company also got a $2 billion boost last year from extending the useful life of its servers and networking gear.

For the 2021 year, Alphabet’s profit increased 89% to $76 billion.

Alphabet’s total costs in 2021 increased 27% to $178.9 billion as the company began to resume its pre-pandemic pace of hiring and construction. The company also noted increased legal fees, costs from a one-time bonus of $1,600 to all employees, and a rise in charitable contributions as it matched increased giving by employees.

Numerous lawsuits accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the advertising and mobile app store markets continue to be one of the company’s biggest challenges. Google already has said its efforts to lower Play app store fees to assuage some of the concerns will hurt revenue.

Alphabet’s cash hoard grew by nearly $3 billion in 2021 to $139.6 billion, with another $50 billion going to buying back shares.

The operating loss for Other Bets, a unit that includes self-driving technology company Waymo and other non-Google ventures, was $5.3 billion in 2021, widening from $4.5 billion in 2020. The company offered no 2022 financial outlook for the unit.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.;
Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington and Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.;
Editing by Anil D’Silva, Matthew Lewis and Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

T-Mobile to terminate corporate employees who aren’t vaccinated by April -memo

Leave a comment

Jan 29 (Reuters) – (This January 29 story corrects blog name)

T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) will fire corporate employees who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by April 2, according to an internal company memo posted on the blog The T-MO Report.

The blog said T-Mobile’s new policy was announced on Friday in an email from its human resource chief to all staff. It follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Jan. 13 that blocked President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

“Employees who have not yet taken action to receive their first dose and upload proof by February 21 will be placed on unpaid leave,” the blog quoted the memo as saying. “Affected employees who do not become fully vaccinated … by April 2 will be separated from T-Mobile.”

The memo, addressed to “all employees (excluding international),” stated that the vaccine rules do not apply to field technicians and most in-store retail roles.

In a statement on Saturday, T-Mobile said “we are requiring office workers (with limited exception for certain roles, locations and legally mandated accommodations and exemptions) to be fully vaccinated by April 2.” It added that “badge-controlled offices continue to be accessible only to those who are vaccinated against COVID-19.”

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Vanessa O’Connell; editing by Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

Peloton plans workforce size review, production changes

Leave a comment

Jan 20 (Reuters) – Peloton Interactive Inc’s (PTON.O) chief executive said on Thursday the company was reviewing the size of its workforce and “resetting” production levels, following a report earlier in the day that it was temporarily halting production of connected fitness bikes and treadmills after a significant drop in demand.

Shares in the exercise bike maker, once a pandemic darling, closed down 24% at about $24, wiping off nearly $2.5 billion in market value.

“We now need to evaluate our organization structure and size of our team,” CEO John Foley said. “And we are still in the process of considering all options … to make our business more flexible.”

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

According to the CNBC report, Peloton, in a confidential presentation dated Jan. 10, said it had seen a “significant reduction” in demand and that it planned to pause bike production in February and March. It also won’t manufacture the Tread treadmill machine for six weeks, beginning next month.

A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, New York, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Read More

“Rumors that we are halting all production of bikes and Treads are false,” Foley said.

Peloton earlier in the day said it was taking “significant corrective actions” to improve its profitability and estimated second-quarter revenue to be about $1.14 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion.

The company has seen a slump in demand for its fitness classes and equipment as people venture out of their houses to hit gyms again following gradual easing of pandemic-related curbs. read more

“During the pandemic, there was too little supply to meet the growing demand. Unfortunately, the company took those cues to bulk up supply just as demand began to falter,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel said.

Peloton has been working with consulting firm McKinsey & Co for a review of its cost structure and could cut jobs, CNBC reported earlier this week. read more

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Kannaki Deka and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Nathan Gomes, Aishwarya Nair and Akriti Sharma; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

U.S. grocery shortages deepen as pandemic dries supplies

Leave a comment

Jan 14 (Reuters) – High demand for groceries combined with soaring freight costs and Omicron-related labor shortages are creating a new round of backlogs at processed food and fresh produce companies, leading to empty supermarket shelves at major retailers across the United States.

Growers of perishable produce across the West Coast are paying nearly triple pre-pandemic trucking rates to ship things like lettuce and berries before they spoil. Shay Myers, CEO of Owyhee Produce, which grows onions, watermelons and asparagus along the border of Idaho and Oregon, said he has been holding off shipping onions to retail distributors until freight costs go down.

Myers said transportation disruptions in the last three weeks, caused by a lack of truck drivers and recent highway-blocking storms, have led to a doubling of freight costs for fruit and vegetable producers, on top of already-elevated pandemic prices. “We typically will ship, East Coast to West Coast – we used to do it for about $7,000,” he said. “Today it’s somewhere between $18,000 and $22,000.”

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Birds Eye frozen vegetables maker Conagra Brands’ (CAG.N) CEO Sean Connolly told investors last week that supplies from its U.S. plants could be constrained for at least the next month due to Omicron-related absences.

Earlier this week, Albertsons (ACI.N) CEO Vivek Sankaran said he expects the supermarket chain to confront more supply chain challenges over the next four to six weeks as Omicron has put a dent in its efforts to plug supply chain gaps.

Shoppers on social media complained of empty pasta and meat aisles at some Walmart (WMT.N) stores; a Meijer store in Indianapolis was swept bare of chicken; a Publix in Palm Beach, Florida was out of bath tissue and home hygiene products while Costco (COST.O) reinstated purchase limits on toilet paper at some stores in Washington state.

The situation is not expected to abate for at least a few more weeks, Katie Denis, vice president of communications and research at the Consumer Brands Association said, blaming the shortages on a scarcity of labor.

The consumer-packaged goods industry is missing around 120,000 workers out of which only 1,500 jobs were added last month, she said, while the National Grocer’s Association said that many of its grocery store members were operating with less than 50% of their workforce capacity.

Produce shelves are seen nearly empty at a Giant Food grocery store as the U.S. continues to experience supply chain disruptions in Washington, U.S., January 9, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

U.S. retailers are now facing roughly 12% out of stock levels on food, beverages, household cleaning and personal hygiene products compared to 7-10% in regular times.

The problem is more acute with food products where out of stock levels are running at 15%, the Consumer Brands Association said.

SpartanNash, a U.S. grocery distributor, last week said it has become harder to get supplies from food manufacturers, especially processed items like cereal and soup.

Consumers have continued to stock up on groceries as they hunker down at home to curb the spread of the Omicron-variant. Denis said demand over the last five months has been as high or higher than it had been in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.
Similar issues are being seen in other parts of the world.

In Australia, grocery chain operator Woolworths Group , said last week that more than 20% of employees at its distribution centers are off work because of COVID-19. In the stores, the virus has put at least 10% of staff out of action.

The company, on Thursday, reinstated a limit of two packs per customer across toilet paper and painkillers nationwide both in-store and online to deal with the staffing shortage.

In the U.S., recent snow and ice storms that snared traffic for hours along the East Coast also hampered food deliveries bound for grocery stores and distribution hubs. Those delays rippled across the country, delaying shipment on fruit and vegetables with a limited shelf life.

While growers with perishable produce are forced to pay inflated shipping rates to attract limited trucking supplies, producers like Myers are choosing to wait for backlogs to ease.

“The canned goods, the sodas, the chips – those things sat, because they weren’t willing to pay double, triple the freight, and their stuff doesn’t go bad in four days,” he said.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Additional reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

Citigroup to enforce ‘no-jab, no-job’ policy starting Jan. 14 – source

Leave a comment

The Citigroup Inc (Citi) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. Picture taken October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) will begin enforcing a previously announced “no-jab, no job” policy as of Jan. 14, according to a source familiar with the matter, making it the first major Wall Street institution to implement a strict COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The move comes as the financial industry, which has long been keen to get back to business as usual, grapples with how to safely bring workers back to the office amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant.

Other major Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs & Co, (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), are telling unvaccinated staff to work from home, but have not yet gone as far as terminating their employment.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

While Citigroup is the first Wall Street bank to enforce a vaccine mandate, a handful of other major U.S. companies have introduced “no-jab, no-job” policies, including Google and United Airlines, with varying degrees of stringency.

Citigroup said in October it would require U.S. employees to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment but did not say when it would begin enforcing the new policy.

The bank said at the time it was complying with the policy of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration requiring all workers supporting government contracts to be fully vaccinated, as the government remains a “large and important” client of Citi.

Citigroup will assess exemptions on religious or medical grounds, or any other accommodation by state or local law, on a case-to-case basis, the bank said at the time.

The source said the bank would begin enforcing that policy as of Jan. 14, but did not provide further details.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday was hearing arguments over requests by Republican state officials and business groups to block a Biden vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers.

Bloomberg first reported Citigroup’s Jan. 14 deadline on Friday. Citigroup will place workers who do not comply by then on unpaid leave, with their last day of employment at the end of the month, the news outlet reported.

More than 90% of Citigroup staff have so far complied with the mandate and that figure is rising rapidly, Bloomberg reported, citing a Citigroup spokeswoman.

Many financial companies have pushed back their return-to-office plans and are encouraging staff to get vaccinated and boosted, but have so far avoided vaccine mandates for legal reasons.

“This is going to be a challenging and complex policy to implement. The problem here is there are a variety of different laws that weigh in on this,” said Chase Hattaway, a partner at law firm RumbergerKirk, noting both federal and anti-discrimination laws as well as a patchwork of state rules.

“Citi will have to tailor its policy to state legislation, and in many cases, cities and municipalities will have different regulations as well, that may require even further carve-outs,” Hattaway said.

BIDEN MANDATES

The Biden administration has used regulations to require businesses with at least 100 employees to require vaccination or weekly testing of employees.

An increasing number of U.S. companies have been using vaccine requirements to protect staff and operations from disruptions.

United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said last month the carrier fired 200 of its 67,000 employees for failure to comply with its mandate.

Many hospitals have fired staff for failing to comply with mandates, which have been imposed on the healthcare industry in more than 20 states.

While some companies such as Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) have gotten more than 96% of its employees to take a vaccine, those in construction and retail have resisted vaccine mandates over fears of staff resistance amid a very tight labor market.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and David Henry in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals; Writing by Michelle Price; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel, Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Tempers fraying in Australia as COVID-19 cases hit new highs

Leave a comment

  • Officials see challenging weeks ahead
  • Djokovic travel exemption sparks criticism
  • PM under pressure to subsidise rapid antigen tests

SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Australia’s daily COVID-19 cases hit a record high for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, further straining hospital resources and testing facilities as public anger grows over the handling of the fast-moving Omicron outbreak.

Many Australians, already unhappy about long queues at public testing centres and a shortage of at-home tests, were further incensed when news broke that tennis world number one Novak Djokovic had been given a medical exemption to enter the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, under pressure at the start of an election year, has sought to reassure voters that his centre-right Liberal-National Party coalition has the situation under control, while keeping tight control on the purse strings.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

“There are no silver bullets here,” Morrison told reporters ahead of a meeting of national cabinet, the group of federal and state and territory leaders tasked with handling the pandemic.

“You’ve just got to work the problem, work it together and push through.”

Officials reported a record 64,774 new cases, the majority in New South Wales and Victoria, the country’s most populous states. That easily exceeded the previous day’s national tally of around 47,800. read more

Total infections have surged more than 50 times from around 1,200 since late November, when the first Omicron case was detected in the country.

People admitted to hospitals in NSW and Victoria rose 10% over the previous day, and authorities warned those numbers would rise further over the next several weeks.

“We have got some challenging weeks ahead of us,” NSW Deputy Health Secretary Susan Pearce told reporters.

The rapid surge in cases in recent weeks has led to long lines at publicly-funded PCR testing centres. That prompted authorities to ask people to only seek PCR tests if symptomatic, which in turn led to a shortage of rapid antigen tests, which can be used at home but must be purchased privately.

Morrison, who must call a federal election before May, has ruled out subsidising the majority of the at-home testing kits, citing a heightened role for “personal responsibility”.

Some state leaders are expected to press Morrison at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting to subsidise rapid antigen tests. read more

‘TAKEN FOR FOOLS’

Authorities also fielded sharp criticism about the decision to grant Djokovic, who has declined to reveal his vaccination status but has previously stated his objection to mandatory vaccines, a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam tournament. read more

The decision prompted an outcry on social media and criticism from other sports people, medical professionals and lawmakers.

Former Australian Rules player Kevin Bartlett tweeted that Australians “have been taken for fools,” while another former player Corey McKernan tweeted: “People with loved ones who are dying/some needing urgent treatment cannot get into their own states. You tell people they can’t go to Coles [supermarket] or a cafe without being vaxxed but if you’re world number one you get a pass?”

Many Australians, and particularly those in Melbourne which hosts the year’s first tennis major later this month, have been subjected to a series of lengthy lockdowns over the past two years.

Federal and state government heavily pushed the importance of vaccinations. As a result, 90% of people over 16 have been double dosed and a booster programme is rolling out. read more

“It sends an appalling message to millions seeking to reduce #COVID19Aus risk to themselves & others. #Vaccination shows respect, Novak,” tweeted Stephen Parnis, a former vice-president of the Australian Medical Association.

Tennis Australia and the Victorian state government said Djokovic did not receive any special treatment in a blind review process that involved a panel of health experts.

When asked his opinion, Morrison said the decision was the remit of the Victorian government.

Australia has recorded more than 612,000 cases and 2,290 deaths since the coronavirus pandemic began, with more than half of those infections reported over the past two weeks.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney and Sonali Paul in Melbourne with additional reporting by Byron Kaye; editing by Jane Wardell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

US

U.S. schools delay openings as Omicron pushes pandemic to record highs

Leave a comment

Jan 3 (Reuters) – Thousands of U.S. schools, including in some major cities, have delayed this week’s scheduled return to classrooms following the holiday break or switched to remote learning as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus drives record levels of COVID-19.

In New Jersey, which has seen some of the highest case rates of any state in recent weeks, most urban districts have implemented virtual classes to start the new year, including Newark, which has nearly 38,000 students.

Milwaukee’s public school system announced on Sunday that its more than 70,000 students would switch to virtual learning on Tuesday due to a rise in COVID infections among staff members. Cleveland’s schools have also gone remote, while Detroit canceled classes through Wednesday.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

The school disruptions, which left many parents scrambling to find child care, have added to a broadening sense of chaos in the first few days of 2022. The number of new COVID-19 cases has doubled in the last seven days to an average of 418,000 a day, according to a Reuters tally.

The Omicron variant appears to be far more contagious than previous iterations, but data suggests it may be less virulent than Delta, which swamped hospitals last year.

‘A LOT OF COVID OUT THERE’

During the last week, the number of hospitalized COVID patients rose 40% and is now at 72% of the previous peak seen in January 2021, according to the Reuters tally. U.S. COVID-19 deaths have fluctuated due to delays in reporting over the holidays but have held fairly steady at 1,300 lives lost on average each day.

Still, the sheer number of cases has alarmed health officials with hospital systems in many states already strained. Maryland, Ohio, Delaware and Washington, D.C., are all at or near record COVID-19 hospitalization rates.

Around the world, more than 3,400 flights had been canceled on Monday, more than half U.S. flights, according to the tracking website FlightAware. A snowstorm moving through the eastern United States was responsible for at least some of the cancellations.

Some school systems are using testing to try to stave off further delays. In Washington, D.C., all staff and 51,000 public school students must upload a negative test result to the district’s website before coming to class on Wednesday. Parents can pick up rapid tests at their school or use their own.

Similar efforts are underway in California, which pledged to provide free home-test kits to all its 6 million K-12 public school students.

“There’s a lot of COVID out there … it’s going to be a bumpy start,” said Michelle Smith McDonald, director of communications and public affairs for the Alameda County Office of Education.

The full impact of the Omicron surge on the country’s school districts may not be clear until next week. Already parents and administrators are struggling to implement changing guidance and figure out how many shots staff and older teenage students need to be considered fully vaccinated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized use of a third dose of the Pfizer (PFE.N) and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to 15, and narrowed the time for all booster shots by a month to five months after the primary doses.

Asked if schools are going to be open in his state and whether that will create problems, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson told Reuters, “The answer to both is yes.”

“We have to go back to school, but at the same time we recognize that it’s going to be a challenge, and we’re likely to see the cases in the schools go up,” Hutchinson, a Republican, added.

New York City schools, the largest district in the country, reopened as planned on Monday but with more testing for its nearly 1 million students. Instead of quarantining an entire classroom if one person tests positive, all students in the class will be given rapid at-home tests to use over the next seven days.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who took office over the weekend, visited an elementary school in the Bronx on Monday and told reporters that the city’s schools would remain open.

“We want to be extremely clear: the safest place for our children is in a school building,” he said.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Ann Saphir in San Francisco and Trevor Hunnicutt, Joe Shaw and Katharine Jackson in Washington; Writing by Lisa Shumaker and Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Daniel Wallis and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Australia to push ahead with reopening amid record COVID-19 cases

Leave a comment

A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbour waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Australia’s government said the milder impact of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 meant the country could push ahead with plans to reopen the economy even as new infections hit a record of more than 37,000 and the number of people hospitalised rose.

Record daily case numbers were reported on Monday in the states of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.

In New South Wales, there were 20,794 cases, higher than Sunday’s figure but below the daily record of 22,577 set on Saturday, with testing numbers lower over the New Year’s holiday weekend.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

The national daily total hit a record of more than 37,150 cases, exceeding Saturday’s 35,327 cases, with Western Australia and the Northern Territory still to report.

“We have to stop thinking about case numbers and think about serious illness, living with the virus, managing our own health and ensuring that we’re monitoring those symptoms and we keep our economy going,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Channel Seven.

Hospitalisations rose to 1,204 in New South Wales, up more than 10% from Sunday and more than three times the level on Christmas Day.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the advice to the government was that the Omicron strain was more transmissible but also milder than other variants, which reduced the risk to both individuals and the health system.

Michael Bonning, chairman of the Australian Medical Association’s New South Wales Council, said the significant increase in hospitalisations combined with the peak holiday period and the number of health workers exposed to COVID were putting pressure on capacity.

“With both the Christmas period and with hospital workers being furloughed due to their close contact status…. we’re finding that it is becoming quite difficult to staff, especially critical areas of hospitals,” he told ABC Television.

In late December, the government changed its advice on when people should get a free PCR test for COIVD-19, and is calling for greater use of rapid antigen tests, in part to relieve pressure on testing capacity. read more

But the rapid antigen tests are in short supply, and Morrison said the government would not cover the cost for people to test themselves, which he put at A$15 ($10.90).

“We’re at another stage of this pandemic now, where we just can’t go round and make everything free,” he said.

Eight deaths from COVID had been reported on Monday, taking the national toll through the pandemic to more than 2,260.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by John Mair. Editing by Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

South Africa lifts curfew as it says COVID-19 fourth wave peaks

Leave a comment

Passengers queue to get a PCR test against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before traveling on international flights, at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

CAPE TOWN, Dec 30 (Reuters) – South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, a government statement said on Thursday.

The country made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country and available capacity in the health sector, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency.

South Africa is currently at the lowest of its five-stage COVID-19 alert levels.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

“All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” a statement from the special cabinet meeting held earlier on Thursday said.

Data from the Department of Health showed a 29.7% decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending Dec. 25 compared to the number of cases found in the previous week, at 127,753, the governmentsaid.

South Africa, with close to 3.5 million infections and 91,000 deaths, has been the worst-hit country in Africa during the pandemic on both counts.

Besides lifting the restrictions on public movement, the government said gatherings will be restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors, and no more than 2,000 people outdoors.

It also ruled that alcohol shops with licenses to operate beyond 11 p.m. (2100GMT) may revert back to full license conditions, a welcome boon for traders and businesses hard hit by the pandemic and looking to recover during the festive season.

“While the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves,” cabinet said, adding that the wearing of masks in public places remained mandatory. Failure to wear a mask in South Africa when required remains a criminal offence.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Wendell Roelf;
Editing by Chris Reese, Dan Grebler and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Some nations look to shorten isolation rules as Omicron races around the world

Leave a comment

  • Latest COVID-19 surge being driven by Omicron variant
  • WHO chief concerned by ‘tsunami of cases’
  • France, UK, Italy, Spain, Bolivia all report record daily cases
  • U.S. also sees record daily average over past seven days
  • Italy, Spain to relax isolation rules

ROME/WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Global COVID-19 infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, Reuters data showed on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant raced out of control, forcing some governments to rethink their quarantine and test rules.

Almost 900,000 cases were detected on average each day around the world between Dec. 22 and 28, with myriad countries posting new all-time highs in the previous 24 hours, including the United States, Australia, many in Europe and Bolivia.

Although studies have suggested Omicron is less deadly than some previous variants, the huge numbers of people testing positive mean that hospitals in some countries might soon be overwhelmed, while businesses might struggle to carry on because of workers having to quarantine.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Fearful of the economic impact of keeping so many people at home, some governments are looking at shortening the period that people have to isolate if they are COVID positive or have been exposed to someone who is positive.

Spain said on Wednesday it was reducing the quarantine period for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to seven days from 10, while Italy said it was planning to relax isolation rules for those who came into close contact with sufferers of the virus. read more

Earlier this week U.S. health authorities released new guidance shortening the isolation period for people with a confirmed infection to five days from 10, so long as they are asymptomatic.

“Delta and Omicron are now twin threats driving up cases to record numbers, leading to spikes in hospitalisation and deaths,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing.

“I am highly concerned that Omicron, being highly transmissible and spreading at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases.”

French Health Minister Olivier Veran told lawmakers France was seeing a “dizzying” rise in cases, with 208,000 reported in the space of 24 hours – a national and European record.

The U.S. government expects a contract for 500 million antigen tests promised by President Joe Biden to help address the surge in cases to be complete late next week and deliveries for manufacturers to start in January, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said in a briefing.

CRUISE SHIPS MONITORED

Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Malta all registered record numbers of new cases on Tuesday, while the seven-day average number of new daily cases in the United States hit a record 258,312, according to a Reuters tally on Wednesday. The previous peak was 250,141, registered last January. read more

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled across the United States each day since Christmas as airline staff test positive for the coronavirus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was monitoring 86 cruise ships that have reported COVID-19 cases. read more

Despite the surge in coronavirus infections, deaths and hospitalizations are comparatively low, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday. read more

While the current seven day daily average of cases is about 240,400 per day, up 60 percent over the previous week, the hospitalization rate for the same period is up just 14 percent to about 9,000 per day over the same period. Deaths were down about seven percent to 1,100 per day, Walensky added.

Britain reported 183,037 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a new record and over 50,000 more than the previous highest figure registered just a day earlier, government statistics showed.

Despite the growing number of cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will not bring in new restrictions this year in England to limit the spread of Omicron, which now accounts for 90% of all community infections, according to health officials. read more

Australia registered almost 18,300 new cases, eclipsing Tuesday’s previous pandemic high of around 11,300. read more

In Spain, demand for free testing kits from the Madrid regional government far outstripped supply, with long queues forming outside pharmacies. read more

Early data from Britain, South Africa and Denmark suggests the risk of hospitalisation from Omicron is lower than from Delta, the WHO said in its latest epidemiological report.

However, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said it was too soon to draw definitive conclusions because Omicron was so far circulating largely among younger, less vulnerable age groups.

A number of governments are increasingly worried by the economic impact of huge numbers being forced into self-isolation because they had been in contact with a coronavirus sufferer.

“We just can’t have everybody just being taken out of circulation because they just happen to be at a particular place at a particular time,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters.

While Spain and Italy moved to relax some isolation rules, China stuck to its policy of zero tolerance, keeping 13 million people in Xian, capital of central Shaanxi province, under rigid lockdown for a seventh day as 151 new cases were reported on Tuesday, albeit none with Omicron so far.

“I just want to go home,” said a 32-year-old mechanic who was in the city on business last week when it was effectively shut off from the outside world. read more

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Register

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson and Ross Colvin; Editing by Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here