The Nigerian government said the travel restrictions enforced to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had no health benefit. The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa stated that the restrictions impacted negatively on individuals and businesses. "Recent experience in Nigeria with the arrival of omicron…

The EU's drug regulator is on Thursday expected to authorise the first Covid-19 vaccines for the Omicron variant, although they do not target the latest strains.

The UK's drug regulator said Monday it had approved an updated Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus that targets the Omicron variant as well as the original form.

US biotech company Moderna on Wednesday announced positive results for a new vaccine that targets both the original Covid strain and Omicron and sees the shot as its "lead candidate" for a booster this fall.

A recent study published in the journal Computers in Biology and Medicine demonstrated that the phytochemical curcumin is a potent therapeutic prospect against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

Hong Kong prisons on Friday reported a worsening coronavirus outbreak involving more than 200 inmates at a time when hundreds of political activists and protesters are being kept behind bars.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for Hong Kong to take "all necessary measures" to control an Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 outbreak, Beijing-affiliated newspapers in the city said Wednesday, a day after leader Carrie Lam ruled out a China-style hard lockdown.

Hong Kong's health facilities have been overloaded by an "onslaught" of Covid-19 infections, its leader said, even as authorities cling to a "zero-Covid" policy despite an unprecedented rise in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant.

The World Health Organization lamented Tuesday that half a million Covid-19 deaths had been recorded since the Omicron variant was discovered, calling the toll "beyond tragic".

Two years after the outbreak of Covid-19, Europe could soon enter a "long period of tranquillity" due to high vaccination rates, the milder Omicron variant and the end of winter, the WHO said on Thursday.

Denmark waved goodbye to facemasks and health passes on Tuesday as it became the first European Union country to lift all of its domestic Covid curbs despite record numbers of cases of the milder Omicron variant.

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has welcomed the call of its sister UN agency, World Health Organization (WHO), for restrictions on travel to be lifted or eased.