The Omicron variant is now dominant in the US

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, due to take place in January, has been deferred due to “continued uncertainty” over the Omicron outbreak.

“Current pandemic conditions make it extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting," said WEF in a statement.

WEF plans to reschedule the event for summer 2022, with some digital events to be held in January.

It will be the second year in a row that an in-person event has not taken place. Davos was canceled in 2021 and moved online due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Israel's daily Covid caseload has risen above 1,000 for the first time in two months as the country’s fifth wave of Covid-19 infections begins to take hold.

There were 1,004 new infections recorded on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry, and the country’s R number -- the number of people infected by each Covid sufferer -- jumped to 1.22, its highest level since August. 

Earlier in the day, the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said government ministers had approved adding the US, Canada and eight other countries to its “red” no-fly list. Israelis will be banned from flying to these countries from Wednesday unless they have special permission. 

Travelers returning from countries on the list will have to self-isolate for 7 days.

At first, they will have to stay in a designated “quarantine hotel,” before being allowed to return home as long as they return a negative PCR test result and agree to have their movements tracked. 

Israel has been steadily adding countries to its red list, including the UK and Italy. Many African countries are also on it. Most of Israel’s 175 confirmed cases, and 380 suspected ones, recently returned from overseas. 

On Sunday evening, Bennett held a televised news conference imploring Israelis to take the new wave seriously, and encouraging those employed in the private sector to work from home. Public sector workers are expected to follow suit next week. 

He also sought to reinvigorate Israel’s stalling vaccination campaign, especially among children, where takeup has been especially weak. 

“The time we bought is running out,” said Bennett, but “with God’s help we will safely overcome this wave."

Biotechnology company Moderna announced Monday that preliminary data suggests its half-dose booster shot increased antibody levels against Omicron compared with the levels seen when a fully vaccinated person does not receive a booster -- but a larger-sized dose of the booster increases antibody levels even more.

Currently, Moderna's booster is administered as a 50-microgram dose, which the company said increased antibody levels 37-fold, but a 100-microgram booster dose increased antibody levels 83-fold compared with levels seen before a booster.

It remains unclear what these increases mean as far as how well the booster doses clinically work against Omicron.

"The dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant is concerning to all. However, these data showing that the currently authorized Moderna COVID-19 booster can boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels are reassuring," Stéphane Bancel, Moderna chief executive officer, said in the company announcement.

"To respond to this highly transmissible variant, Moderna will continue to rapidly advance an Omicron-specific booster candidate into clinical testing in case it becomes necessary in the future. We will also continue to generate and share data across our booster strategies with public health authorities to help them make evidence-based decisions on the best vaccination strategies against SARS-CoV-2."

SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Separately, Moderna and other vaccine makers have said that they are working on variant-specific boosters as well. 

Stricter Covid-19 measures have come into effect across Europe, as several nations rush to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

Here's a look at some of them:

Unvaccinated people face a 10 times greater risk of testing positive and 20 times greater risk of dying from Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people who have also received a booster, according to data published recently by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The CDC data -- which assesses data through October -- suggests the gap in risk between unvaccinated people and those with a booster is even larger than it is between unvaccinated people and those who are fully vaccinated with their initial series.

Unvaccinated people face a five times greater risk of testing positive for Covid-19 and 14 times greater risk of dying from Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people do, according to the CDC data.

A photo that appears to show UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson drinking wine with staff during the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown last year was published in the UK press Sunday.

The image, shared with The Guardian, purports to show an outdoor gathering that took place on May 15, 2020, during the country’s first nationwide lockdown.

Staff were gathered in the garden at Downing Street, which is also the Prime Minister’s residence, and Johnson can be seen with then-fiancée Carrie Symonds. On the table are bottles of wine and a cheeseboard. 

Four other members of staff are sat around a second table. Nine people are also gathered on the grass, with another two sat nearby.

Social distancing restrictions at the time meant that mixing between households was limited to two people, who could only meet outdoors and at a distance of at least two meters. In workplaces, the guidance said in-person meetings should only take place if “absolutely necessary.”

On Sunday, a Downing Street spokesperson said that work meetings often take place in the garden during the summer.

Following the emergence of the photograph, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “Enough is enough. Tell us the truth about what was going on in Downing Street from the very beginning immediately @BorisJohnson."

The Prime Minister has faced a string of allegations of parties at 10 Downing Street while Covid-19 restrictions were in place.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray has been tasked with investigating the reports after Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was removed from the inquiry following revelations that he had known about a quiz held in his department.

The Danish Ministry of Health anticipates between 9,000 to 45,000 new daily Covid-19 infections by Christmas Day in light of the Omicron variant, according to a report published Saturday.

The Statens Serum Institut (SSI), part of Denmark’s Ministry of Health, also forecast up to 250 hospital admissions per day by Christmas in the report, which estimated infection rates and new hospital admissions through to January 1, 2022.   

While it acknowledges a high degree of uncertainty associated with the modeling, the Expert Group for Mathematical Modelling expects “both increasing infection rates and more admissions towards Christmas.” 

The report took into consideration the country’s accelerated plan for revaccinating all those over the age of 18, and acknowledged “uncertainties around the Omicron variant,” including severity. The projections also hinge “on the degree of declining immunity for the Omicron variant” and the behavior of the population.  

The expert group modeled eight different scenarios with different combinations of relevant parameters. All eight scenarios pointed to increasing infection rates and new admissions.  

"We estimate between 130-250 daily new admissions on December 24, if we assume that the Omicron variant gives the same hospitalization risk, and infects one and a half to twice as much as the Delta variant," said Camilla Holten Møller, leader of the expert group.  

“There is still great uncertainty about the admission risk for the Omicron variant. And there are indications that the variant may be less severe," added Holten Møller. 

"Therefore, we have also made calculations with it being half as serious as the Delta variant. If this is the case, the models show we can expect between 120-190 daily new admissions on 24 December." 

Denmark recorded 8,212 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, according to SSI data.  

New restrictions came into effect on Sunday in an attempt to curb the spike in infections. Distancing measures and nightlife restrictions are also back in place, and passes are required on parts of the public transit system. 

New York State set a new record for single-day Covid-19 cases for a third consecutive day Sunday, according to data released by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office.

The state reported 22,478 positive Covid-19 cases, up from 21,908 on Saturday and 21,027 on Friday.

Despite surging numbers, Hochul told New Yorkers they are in a far more favorable position than when the virus initially struck last year.

"This is not March of 2020, we are not defenseless,” she said Sunday.

"We have the tools to protect ourselves and the vulnerable loves ones in our families: Get vaccinated, get the booster and wear a mask when indoors or in large gatherings. Don't take a chance during the winter surge."

While Covid-19 cases have slowly increased across New York State over the last three days, statewide Covid-19 hospitalizations have remained around the same, according to available data.

It’s a bit too early to tell whether hospitalizations will follow suit and increase as there is generally about a three-week lag behind Covid-19 case trends, according to CNN Health’s analysis of Covid-19 trends in New York.

However, the upward trend in Covid-19 cases could be a message that the US should brace for a winter surge of cases that could very well break records set last winter.

China has reported 37 locally transmitted cases on Sunday, of which 21 were in the historic city of Xi'an in China's northwest Shaanxi province. 

Since December 9, when its first case was detected among staff at a quarantine hotel, a total of 49 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the city.

Authorities believe the cases are linked to an inbound flight from Pakistan on December 4, where at least six passengers were found to have the Delta variant. 

On Sunday, mass testing for its nearly 13 million residents was launched and schools were suspended from Monday, the municipal government announced. The city has designated one high-risk area in Chang’an University and 13 middle-risk areas.

In the southeastern Zhejiang province -- where hundreds of cases have been reported in recent weeks -- authorities reported only 10 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, a significant decline from the 77 cases reported Friday.

Authorities downgraded the city to low risk on Sunday.

Since December 6, Zhejiang province has reported at least 475 cases as of Sunday, according to the provincial government. 

On Sunday, two cases were also reported in southern Guangdong province and one case was reported in Beijing. 

Over the weekend, China's National Health Commission advised people in any city with Covid-19 cases not to travel during the New Year and Chinese New Year holidays.