As Covid-19 cases in several states in Europe and the United States surged to record levels, the global travel chaos triggered by the Christmas weekend spread to Monday, and the cancellation of major flights affected millions of people returning from the holidays.
Since last Friday, about 11,500 flights worldwide have been cancelled, and tens of thousands of flights have been delayed during the busiest travel period of the year-and many airlines have stated that the surge in Omicron coronavirus variants has caused a shortage of personnel.

According to flight tracking system FlightAware, the impact has spread globally, with about 3,000 flights cancelled on Monday and 1,100 on Tuesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday halved the isolation period for asymptomatic Covid-19 cases from 10 days to 5 days, opening the way for more people to return to work faster and minimizing large-scale The possibility of labor shortage. Damage caused by large-scale Omicron.

The guidelines are non-binding, but American companies and policymakers closely follow them, and further recommend a five-day quarantine period “five days after wearing a mask when around others”.

Due to the large number of unvaccinated residents and the inability to conduct quick and easy testing, the number of cases in the United States is expected to hit a record high in January.

President Joe Biden said on Monday that some US hospitals may be “overcrowded,” but the country is generally prepared for the latest surge, and Americans need not “panic”.

In virtual meetings with state governors and senior health advisers, Biden emphasized that the rapid spread of Omicron will not have the same impact as the initial outbreak of Covid-19 or Delta variants this year.

“Omicron is worrying, but it shouldn’t be a source of panic,” he said.

Nationwide, the United States is approaching the daily high of 250,000 cases recorded in the most affected country in the world last January, and the country has lost more than 816,000 people due to the pandemic.

New measures in Europe

Governments around the world are scrambling to strengthen vaccination, emphasizing that the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths occur in people who have not been vaccinated.

With the resumption of unwelcome blockades in several countries, France stopped the stay-at-home order.

After the national number of infections hit a record high, the ministers did call on employers to allow employees to work from home three days a week, which is consistent with the situation in Denmark and Iceland, which also reported record daily cases.

Complete News Source : NDTV