Covid-19 pandemic: Data, vax news mark small victories in Omicron battle

Coronavirus infections have soared wherever highly infectious Omicron has spread, triggering new restrictions in many countries

Two vaccine makers, AstraZeneca and Novavax, said their shots protected against Omicron as UK data suggested it may cause proportionally fewer hospital cases than the Delta coronavirus variant, though public health experts warned the battle against Covid-19 was far from over.

Similarly encouraging signs about hospitalisation rates emerged from South Africa on Wednesday, but the head of a leading African health agency joined the World Health Organization in cautioning that it was too soon to draw broad conclusions about Omicron's virulence.

Lufthansa said it planned to cut 33,000 flights from its winter schedule due to the spread of the Omicron