Omicron

Like a number of sports, Super Rugby is now looking at the likely impact of Omicron Covid-19 now that New Zealand has moved to a red light setting.

Crusaders boss Colin Mansbridge says while there will probably be limited fan access to games, their main concern is that the games can still go ahead.

The Crusaders have moved a pre-season game against the Hurricanes from Blenheim to Christchurch because it will be easier to manage under the current Covid guidelines.

They say 11 positive results were returned over the past three days, with the analysis showing that omicron has had local transmission.

Some of the cases now concern people who have had no contact with travellers who imported the virus.

Fearing a further spike in the pandemic, anybody who recently attended any gatherings outside their families is encouraged to have a test.

New Caledonia had a sharp surge of the delta variant in September, which killed more than 280 people.

Although the country's most populous state has few Covid-19 restrictions in place, businesses around NSW have been forced to close due to virus-induced staff absences.

Spending data analysed by ANZ last week indicated economic activity plummeting to levels lower than any other time during the pandemic.

"We're now facing economic situations that are worse than if we'd had an actual lockdown," said economist Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work.

The highly transmissible variant has rapidly spread around the globe and New Zealand has dodged a community outbreak so far.

But with the escalating number of overseas returnees testing positive, there are fears a new wave of the virus could be out in the community within weeks.

Epidemiologist and University of Otago professor Michael Baker called the variant a "huge threat" and said it was not a matter of if there was an outbreak, but when.

Recent studies suggest that Omicron is less likely to make people seriously ill than previous Covid variants.

But the record number of people catching it has left health systems under severe pressure, said WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

On Monday, the US recorded more than one million Covid cases in 24 hours.

The WHO - the UN's health agency - said the number of global cases has increased by 71% in the last week, and in the Americas by 100%. It said that among severe cases worldwide, 90% were unvaccinated.

Uncertainty around the Omicron variant means going ahead "simply contains too many risks", according to a statement from the Recording Academy and CBS.

The event, which is regarded as music's biggest night, was scheduled to take place on 31 January in Los Angeles.

It will happen on a future date to be announced soon, organisers said.

The health and safety of the music community, the live audience and hundreds of employees remained their top priority, they added.

UK-based Dimension, AKA Robert Etheridge, confirmed in an Instagram post he tested positive for Omicron, making him New Zealand's first community case of the fast-spreading COVID-19 variant.

The Ministry of Health said he arrived on a flight from the UK on December 16 and after three negative test results in managed isolation, was allowed to complete his final three days in self-isolation.

But the Ministry said he didn't wait for his negative day nine test result before leaving self-isolation, as required, and went on to visit multiple venues including a nightclub.

Airline carriers globally scrapped at least 2366 flights on Friday, which fell on Christmas Eve and is typically a heavy day for air travel, according to a running tally on the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. Nearly 9000 more flights were delayed.

The website showed that 1616 Christmas Day flights were called off worldwide, along with 365 more that had been scheduled for Sunday.

Commercial air traffic within the United States and into or out of the country accounted for more than a quarter of all the cancelled flights over the weekend, FlightAware data showed.

Booster shots will be offered from 4 January to everyone over 18 who had their second shot four months earlier and the interval will be again reduced to three months by the end of January.

"These dates have been set out of an abundance of caution to give Australians early continued protection," Hunt said during a media conference in Canberra.

Most states had been pressing the federal government to make more people eligible for boosters to stem the growing tide of Omicron cases. Authorities two weeks ago reduced the wait time to five months from six.

"An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled" said WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that "difficult decisions" must be made.

"In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events" he said.

He added that there was now "consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than... Delta".