An official of the World Health Organization says a sub-variant of Omicron variant of the coronavirus is active in Nepal among new Covid-19 cases in the country.
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DEC 31: A government statement said the Omicron variant, while highly transmissible, had seen lower hospitalisation rates than previous waves.
There had been a marginal increase in the number of deaths, it added.
The variant - first reported by South Africa last month - is spreading fast elsewhere leading to widespread curbs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a "tsunami" of infections from Delta and Omicron variants that could overwhelm health systems.
But in South Africa, a statement released after a special cabinet meeting said cases and hospital admission rates had dropped in almost all provinces across the country.
For the week ending 25 December 2021, the number of confirmed infections stood at 89,781 - down from 127,753 the week before.
The changes announced include lifting restrictions on movement between midnight and 04:00. Businesses will also be allowed to sell alcohol under normal licensing rules, instead of closing at 23:00.
Overnight curfew rules of varying severities have been in place since a national state of disaster was declared in late March 2020.
The country still has "spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services" despite the Omicron wave, officials said.
The public are still being urged to get vaccinated and follow public health protocols, including mandatory mask-wearing.
Gatherings remain capped at 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 outdoors or 50% at venue capacity to allow for social distancing.
The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) will monitor the situation and make adjustments if necessary or if hospital pressure increases, officials said.
South Africa has recorded almost 3.5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 90,000 deaths during the pandemic.
Many countries around the world are battling the Omicron wave while weighing up restrictions:
1) Israel has approved a fourth Covid-19 vaccination, the director-general of its health ministry said. The country reported its highest number of cases since September on Thursday
2) France has reported more than 200,000 cases for a second day in a row
3) In India, a spike in Covid infections has prompted the government to tighten restrictions, including night curfews in all major cities
4) Germany has announced it will lift strict travel rules for people arriving from countries hardest hit by Omicron in early January, including the UK
5) Portugal has reduced the period of self-isolation for asymptomatic Covid and contact cases from 10 to seven days
A Covid "tsunami" threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fuelled by the Omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again.
Governments are walking a tightrope between antivirus restrictions and the need to keep societies and economies open, as the highly transmissible variant drove cases to levels never seen before in the United States, Britain, France and Denmark.
The blistering surge was illustrated by AFP's tally of 6.55 million new infections reported globally in the week ending Tuesday, the highest the figure has been since the World Health Organization declared a Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse."
The variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in the United States, the hardest-hit nation where the seven-day average of new cases hit 265,427, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the count was likely just the "tip of the iceberg" with the true number likely far higher because of a shortage of tests.
But there was some hope as data indicated a decoupling of the number of cases and hospitalisations. "We should not become complacent," top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, but "all indications point to a lesser severity of Omicron". At a drive-through virus testing site in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, there were long lines of cars with people waiting to provide samples.
"Half of my family has it, you know this new variant is very, very spreadable, like way more spreadable than the first time around," said resident Victoria Sierralta. "It's like we're back in the first stage of Covid. It's absolutely crazy."
- 'This is serious' -
Millions around the world will again welcome a new year in the shadow of the pandemic, which is known to have killed more than 5.4 million people so far, with festivities dampened or cancelled in many countries.
Greece on Wednesday banned music in bars and restaurants to try and limit New Year's Eve parties, with public events already cancelled. The mayor of Mexico's capital has cancelled the city's massive New Year's Eve celebrations after a spike in cases. Despite the outbreak concerns, the streets of Mexico City were busy on Wednesday.
"I don't think that such an event with such economic importance should be cancelled, however health comes before everything else," said 59-year-old teacher Victor Arturo Madrid Contreras.
With the "cancellation'' they are sending a message... 'You know what? This is serious'." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile defended his decision not to clamp down on festivities over the holidays, saying around 90 percent of Covid patients in intensive care had not received a vaccine booster.
The number of people in hospital with the coronavirus topped 10,000 in England, the highest total since March, as Britain on Wednesday reported a new record of 183,037 daily cases.
The high take-up of boosters in England "is allowing us to go ahead with New Year in the cautious way that we are", Johnson said, despite new closures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Records cases in France, Denmark
Across the Channel, France too hit a new daily record of more than 200,000 cases -- more than double the number on Christmas Day -- as it extended its closure of nightclubs into January.
Wearing masks outdoors will become compulsory in Paris on Friday for everyone over the age of 11 except those inside vehicles, cyclists, users of other two-wheelers such as scooters and those participating in sports.
Denmark, which currently has the world's highest rate of infection per person, recorded a fresh record of 23,228 new cases, which authorities attributed in part to the large numbers of tests carried out after Christmas celebrations. Portugal also saw a record with nearly 27,000 cases reported in 24 hours.
DECEMBER 15: Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries.
But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to detect it.
Dr Tedros said he was concerned that not enough was being done to tackle the variant.
"Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems," he said.
The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa in November, and the country has since seen a surge in infections. President Cyril Ramaphosa has tested positive for Covid-19, and is currently isolating with mild symptoms.
A number of countries have introduced travel bans affecting South Africa and its neighbours following the emergence of Omicron, but this has failed to stop it from spreading around the world.
In the press conference on Tuesday, Dr Tedros reiterated concerns about vaccine inequity, as some countries accelerate rollouts of a booster shot in response to Omicron.
Recent studies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine showed it produced far fewer neutralising antibodies against Omicron than against the original strain, but that this deficit could be reversed by a third, booster, jab.
Dr Tedros said boosters "could play an important role" in curbing the spread of Covid-19, but that it was "a question of prioritisation".
"The order matters. Giving boosters to groups at low risk of severe disease or death simply endangers the lives of those at high risk who are still waiting for their primary doses because of supply constraints," he said.
Supplies to the global vaccine-sharing programme Covax have increased in recent months. But world health officials fear a repeat of a shortfall of tens of millions of doses which occurred in the middle of this year, partly as a result of India suspending exports during a surge in cases there.
In poorer countries, some vulnerable people are yet to receive a single dose.
