FEARS over the impact of the Omicron variant rose on Thursday after the first case was reported in the United States, while the Japanese central bank warned of economic pain as countries respond with tighter containment measures.


EUROPE

* The World Health Organization agreed to launch negotiations on an international pact to prevent and control future pandemics at a time when the world is gearing up to battle the new Omicron variant of coronavirus.

* Britain said on Wednesday it had agreed deals to buy 114 million more Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots, saying it had sped up signing the new contracts in light of the emergence of the new Omicron variant.

* France is stepping up its COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign and tightening entry rules for arrivals from outside the European Union in response to the spread of the Omicron variant, a government spokesman said.

* The European Union-wide rollout of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine version for five- to 11-year-old children will begin Dec 13, one week earlier than previously planned, Germany's health ministry said.

* Germany reported the highest number of deaths since mid-February as hospitals warned the country could have 6,000 people in intensive care by Christmas.


MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday travel restrictions imposed over COVID-19 that isolate any one country or region was "not only deeply unfair and punitive - they are ineffective."

* The heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly becoming dominant in South Africa, less than four weeks after being identified there, authorities said, as other countries tightened their borders against the new threat.

* A senior Botswana health official said 16 of the total 19 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant detected in the country were asymptomatic, while President Mokgweetsi Masisi said travel bans on its citizens were unfair and unjustified.

* The United Arab Emirates reported its first case of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron for an African woman arriving from an African country through an Arab country, according to state news agency WAM.


AMERICAS

* Mexico's health regulator Cofepris said it had approved U.S. pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co's antibody treatment against COVID-19 for emergency use with infected patients at risk from comorbidities.

* The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus is likely to soon spread to other countries in North and South America after being detected in Canada and Brazil, the Pan American Health Organization said.

* Bristol Myers Squibb Co was sued by four employees who said the drugmaker refused to grant them religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and threatened to fire them on Dec. 6 for remaining unvaccinated.


ASIA-PACIFIC

* South Korea's daily coronavirus case numbers rose to a new high on Thursday, as authorities halted quarantine exemptions for fully vaccinated inbound travellers for two weeks in a bid to fend off the Omicron variant.

* Australia's tally of people with the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 edged higher on Thursday, prompting state governments to bolster domestic border controls as health experts wait to learn more about the dangers posed by the strain.


MEDICAL DEVELOPMENT

* Moderna Inc could have a COVID-19 booster shot targeting the Omicron variant tested and ready to file for U.S. authorization as soon as March, the company's president said.


ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian shares edged higher in choppy trading on Thursday, helped by advances in Chinese real estate shares, though fears about the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus capped gains regionally.