Last checked at 
(Updates details from France, Italy, adds details on U.S.
travelers, Midwest hospitals, economic outlook)
* AstraZeneca, Novavax say their shots protect against
Omicron
* UK data suggests fewer hospitalisations compared with
Delta
* Do not extrapolate from South African data -African CDC
boss
* WHO also urges caution about drawing firm conclusions
By James Macharia Chege and Josephine Mason
JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Omicron advanced
across the world on Thursday, with health experts warning the
battle against the COVID-19 variant was far from over despite
two drugmakers saying their vaccines protected against it and
signs it carries a lower risk of hospitalisation.
Coronavirus infections have soared wherever the highly
infectious Omicron variant has spread, triggering new
restrictions in many countries and record new cases.
But in another glimmer of hope two days before Christmas, a
U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) official said data
indicated that both Merck & Co Inc's and Pfizer Inc's
COVID-19 anti-virals are effective against the variant.
There were encouraging signs too about hospitalisation rates
from Britain and South Africa, although the head of a leading
African health agency joined the World Health Organization in
cautioning that it was too soon to draw broader conclusions.
"Let's be careful not to extrapolate what we are seeing in
South Africa across the continent, or across the world," Africa
Centres for Disease Control (CDC) chief John Nkengasong said.
Nevertheless, U.S. stock indexes and yields on U.S.
Treasuries both climbed on Thursday, partly on new optimism
after Omicron helped ratchet up market volatility for much of
the last month of 2021.
"Today is a very calm day. It’s the relief over Omicron
apparently not being as bad as we feared," Ryan Detrick, chief
market strategist at LPL Financial, said.
Even as Omicron has begun leaving an imprint on parts of the
U.S. economy, economists say it so far seems unlikely to prevent
a second straight year of above-trend growth.
First identified last month in southern Africa and Hong
Kong, Omicron is becoming dominant in much of Europe including
Britain https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/englands-covid-19-prevalence-reaches-record-1-45-people-ons-2021-12-23,
where daily new infections have soared beyond 100,000.
France had its worst-ever day in terms of new COVID-19 cases
on Thursday, with more than 91,000 recorded, while Germany
reported its first Omicron death.
In Italy, the first Western country to be hit by the
pandemic last year, all public New Year's Eve celebrations were
banned, while Greece banned public Christmas festivities. Both
countries also made outdoor mask-wearing mandatory.
In the United States, millions of Americans pushed ahead
with holidays including cross-country flights. Authorities said
2,081,297 passengers were screened through the nation's airports
on Wednesday, 144,000 more than on the same date in 2019 before
the pandemic.
Increases in hospitalisations and deaths in South Africa and
Britain since Omicron took hold appear to have been only
gradual, and AstraZeneca https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/astrazeneca-shot-third-dose-works-against-omicron-study-2021-12-23
and Novavax https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/novavax-says-covid-vaccine-boosts-response-omicron-variant-2021-12-22
joined other manufacturers in saying their shots
protect against it.
University of Edinburgh https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/scotland-reports-fewer-covid-19-hospitalizations-with-omicron-2021-12-22
researchers who tracked 22,205 Omicron patients said on
Wednesday the number who needed to be hospitalised was 68% lower
than they would have expected, based on the rate in patients
with Delta.
Imperial College London https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hospital-stay-risk-omicron-is-40-45-lower-than-delta-uk-study-2021-12-22
researchers reported evidence of a comparable 40%-45% reduction
in hospitalisation risk.
Britain recorded a record number of new coronavirus cases on
Thursday, with the daily tally reaching 119,789. But analysis of
preliminary data by the UK Health Security Agency showed an
individual with Omicron was estimated to be between 31% and 45%
less likely to attend hospital compared to someone with Delta,
and 50% to 70% less likely to be admitted.
UKHSA boss Jenny Harries said this was "an encouraging early
signal", but added: "this is early data and more research is
required to confirm these findings".
In Washington, the FDA authorised Merck's anti-viral pill
for certain high-risk adult patients, a day after giving the
go-ahead to a similar treatment from Pfizer.
Both pills worked, said Patrizia Cavazzoni, a top FDA
official, adding that both interfere with how the virus
replicates, a process that is not altered across variants.
'DON'T OVER-INTERPRET'
Scientists have warned that, with the surge in cases in
Britain, even a small proportion of hospitalisations could
overwhelm the healthcare system.
In the U.S. Midwest, Omicron's rapid spread has hospitals
"preparing for the worst," with their personnel already severely
strained from a wave of the Delta variant.
The British data supported findings from South Africa's
National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
A separate South African government-backed study, yet to be
peer-reviewed, on health workers given the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine identified "clear and early de-coupling" of
hospitalisation from Omicron cases compared with Delta.
AstraZeneca said a three-course dose of its vaccine offered
protection against the variant, citing data from an Oxford
University lab study.
Findings from the study, yet to be published in a
peer-reviewed journal, matched those from rivals Pfizer-BioNTech
, and Moderna.
Novavax also said early data showed its vaccine -
authorised for use by the European Union and WHO but yet to be
approved by the United States - generated an immune response
against Omicron.
But the older Delta variant lurks.
The coronavirus death toll in Russia, where officials had
detected only 41 Omicron cases, passed 600,000 on Thursday,
Reuters calculations based on official data showed, after a
surge of Delta-linked infections.
Only the United States and Brazil have recorded more
coronavirus deaths.
Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open https://tmsnrt.rs/2FThSv7 in an external browser.
Eikon users can click https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1063154666
for a case tracker.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux around the world; Writing by John
Stonestreet, Nick Macfie and Daniel Wallis; Editing by Catherine
Evans, Edmund Blair, Mark Heinrich, Alexander Smith and Diane
Craft)
