COVID digest: J&J booster slashes hospitalizations — study

A  second shot of Johnson & Johnson Inc's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine was 84% effective at preventing hospitalization 14 days after the booster was given to South African healthcare workers who became infected, researchers announced Thursday.

Effectiveness reached 85% at one to two months post-boost.

The real-world study from the South African Medical Research Council, which has not been peer-reviewed, was based on a second dose of the J&J vaccine given to 69,092 healthcare workers between November 15 and December 20.

"It reassures us that COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective for the purpose they were designed, which is to protect people against severe disease and death," said Linda-Gail Bekker, the study's co-lead investigator.

The findings offer hope as omicron cases soar worldwide. 

Meanwhile South African health officials believe the peak of the fourth wave has passed and the country has now been placed at its lowest alert level.

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

The country's government announced that it would be making a number of adjustments to its COVID-19 restrictions, among them, lifting a midnight to 4am curfew that has been in place since the beginning of pandemic.

The office of the president noted: "While the omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves."

Here's a look at coronavirus-related news in other parts of the world

Europe

Most people in Germany don't expect a return to normal life, a YouGov survey has found. 

Some 79% of participants in the representative poll, which was conducted from December 21 to 23, believe that COVID-19 will continue to impact general life in 2022. 

Just 15% of respondents were confident that the pandemic will be largely or completely over in 2022, while 34% expect the impact to be considerable. The outlook proved even gloomier than a year before, when YouGov found that 26% of Germans saw some kind of end in sight.

As of January 4, the UK will be removed from Germany's high risk travel list and Italy and Canada will be added.

Clubs in Berlin are preparing to launch a vaccination campaign at the beginning of January. Some of the German capital's most well-known clubs including Sage Beach, Klunkerkranich and Mensch Meier will open their doors for people getting their COVID vaccines or booster shots. The clubs, which have had to close due to the surge in COVID cases, hope to vaccinate around 4,500 people from January 3 - 9.

In France, everyone over 12 years of age in Paris will be required to wear face masks outdoors starting Friday to try and spike a surge fueled by the omicron variant. Only people on bicycles and motorbikes, traveling in private vehicles and doing exercise will be exempt from the outdoor mask rule. 

Those who do not comply or meet the criteria for exceptions potentially face a €135 ($153) fine. Masks are already required in shops, public buildings, offices and mass transit in France.

North of Paris in Chambly, the car and garage of National Assembly lawmaker Pascal Bois, who belongs to Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche party, was set alight and an adjacent wall was tagged with graffiti that said "Vote No." Authorities believe anti-vaccine activists targeted his home.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter, "Such criminal acts of intimidation are not acceptable in a democracy," and said police were investigating. 

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is building "surge hubs" at eight hospitals around England to prepare for a possible jump in COVID-19 patients as the omicron variant takes hold. Each temporary structure will have the capacity to treat about 100 patients.

Staff are also preparing plans to create as many as 4,000 beds, should they be needed.

The UK reported a record 183,037 confirmed new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, 32% more than the previous day.

The sheer number of infections has worried health officials about a surge in hospitalizations and deaths.

Russia recorded the deaths of more than 71,000 people during November. It marks a grim new record in the country's battle with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

According to state statistics agency Rosstat, 87,527 people with COVID-19 had died in November. Of that figure, 71,187 deaths were confirmed to have been caused by the virus.

The pandemic has hit Russia the hardest out of European countries.

Around 45% of the population has been vaccinated and authorities are battling high levels of vaccine skepticism. This is despite its own vaccine being widely available.

Asia

Chinese officials pledged to deliver groceries to residents of Xi'an, a city of 13 million people that is under strict lockdown.

China's Commerce Ministry has contacted nearby provinces to help ensure sufficient supplies of everyday necessities, a ministry spokesperson said.

State broadcaster CCTV aired a story about one apartment complex in Xi'an receiving free groceries, including a box of 15 eggs, a 2.5-kilogram bag of rice, some green vegetables and meat. 

Xi'an reported 155 new locally transmitted cases on Wednesday, and a total of about 1,000 cases in the latest outbreak. China continues to follow a "zero" COVID strategy. 

Middle East

In Saudi Arabia, workers at Mecca's Grand Mosque brought back social distancing floor markers after the country recorded the greatest number of new infections in months. The markings had been removed on October 17 as case numbers dropped.

As authorities vowed to reimpose "social distancing requirements between worshippers and pilgrims," they did not specify what the new capacity limits would be or if there would be any.

In Israel, health chiefs have approved a fourth vaccine dose for those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Nachman Ash who is the director general of Israel's Health Ministry said those with compromised immune systems would be prioritized, with heart transplant patients among the first on the list.

"We will continue to track the data on a daily basis and we will see if we need to broaden this recommendation to more of the population," Ash said.

According to government figures around 4.2 million people out of the country's 9.5 million population have received three doses of vaccine.

Americas

New York City plans to go ahead with New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square despite record numbers of COVID-19 cases. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the famed "ball drop" to ring in the new year will take place as planned. The US city banned revelers from Times Square last year due to the pandemic.

Mexico became the fourth country in the Western hemisphere to approve Cuba's Abdala COVID-19 vaccine, the tenth vaccine approved there. 

While the WHO has not approved the Abdala vaccine, Mexican authorities said the Cuban vaccine is safe and efficacious. Cuba has developed two other vaccines, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, neither of which is approved for use by the WHO.

mvb, ar/rt (Reuters, AP, dpa)