WASHINGTON: With Omicron cases on the rise, New York health officials have reported an increase in hospitalized children, as the White House promised Sunday to quickly resolve the United States’ COVID-19 test shortage.

The New York State Department of Health warned “of an upward trend in pediatric hospitalizations associated with COVID-19”, in a statement on Friday. “In New York City, it identified four-fold increases in COVID-19 hospital admissions for children 18 and under beginning the week of December 5 through the current week,” it said.

The department added that approximately half of the admissions are younger than five, an age group that is vaccine ineligible. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States is on the rise, with an average of nearly 190,000 new infections daily over the past seven days, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The arrival of the new Omicron variant, compounded by holiday celebrations that typically include travel and family reunions, have caused a rush on tests in the United States, where it is difficult to get one in many locations.

Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci on Sunday acknowledged a COVID “testing problem” and vowed to make more tests available to Americans next month. “One of the problems is that that’s not going to be totally available to everyone until we get to January and there are still some issues now of people having trouble getting tested,” Fauci told ABC News.

“But we’re addressing the testing problem,” he added, saying it should be corrected “very soon.”

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced a raft of new measures as the United States battles its latest COVID surge, including shipping half a billion free home tests in the wake of the Christmastime testing crunch.

However, the White House, whose strategy has for weeks been mainly focused on vaccinations, has faced strong criticism over the fact that many tests won’t be available until January.

‘Extraordinarily contagious’

Fauci on Sunday emphasized that the administration was ramping up to tackle the spike and stressed that Omicron was “extraordinarily contagious.” 

Apart from overwhelming hospitals and COVID testing sites, the Covid variant has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the United States, as crews called in sick or had to quarantine after exposure to the virus. 

Recent studies in South Africa and Britain indicate that Omicron was less likely to lead to hospitalization than the previous strains of the virus and that the duration of hospital stays and oxygen needs for patients were lower, Fauci noted.

But he also warned that Omicron’s apparent lower severity is likely to be neutralized by how fast it is spreading. “The issue that we don’t want to get complacent about… is that when you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity,” Fauci said.

Port-Au-Princ (Haiti): A truck carrying gasoline exploded in northern Haiti, killing more than 40 people and injuring dozens of others, officials and news reports said Tuesday.

The blast occurred late Monday in the city of Cap-Haitien, Prime Minister Ariel Henry said, adding that he was devastated.

No further details were immediately available. Police didn’t immediately return calls requesting information.

Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported that dozens have been hospitalized with injuries and that hospitals were seeking supplies.

We are overwhelmed, a person identified as Dr. Calhil Turenne told the paper.

Dave Larose, a civil engineer who works in Cap-Haitien, told The Associated Press that he was driving when he saw ambulances and a crowd of people gathered along a road around 1 a.m.

He said he observed how some people were using buckets to scoop up gasoline from the truck and the street to take back to their house. The explosion occurred as Haiti struggles with a severe shortage of fuel and spiraling gas prices.

It’s terrible what our country has to go through Larose said.

Former Prime Minister Claude Joseph also mourned the victims, tweeting, I share the pain and sorrow of all the people.”

Colombo: In an unusual move, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has prorogued Parliament for one week and left for Singapore on an unscheduled visit.

There was no immediate comment from the government on Rajapaksa’s decision to suspend Parliament for a week.

Parliament, which ended its sessions on Friday, was originally set to convene on January 11. It will now convene on January 18.

President Rajapaksa, through an extraordinary gazette notification dated December 12, suspended the assembly.

I do by this proclamation prorogue Parliament with effect from midnight of the Twelfth day of December, Two Thousand and Twenty One and hereby fix the Eighteenth day of January Two Thousand and Twenty Two at 10 am for the commencement of the next session and summon parliament to meet .. the gazette notification read.

Hours after proroguing Parliament, Gotabaya, 72, left for Singapore on an unscheduled visit.

Presidential officials said that he was on a private visit, believed to be for medical purposes.

Two key issues billed for discussions during Monday’s Cabinet meeting would not be taken up, energy minister Udaya Gammanpila told reporters.

The weekly Cabinet meeting was to discuss the possibility of Sri Lanka going for a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in view of the severe foreign currency crisis.

Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves have slipped to the lower level to suffice only a month’s imports.

The Cabinet was also scheduled to discuss a controversial power deal with a US power company for which the government allies had expressed vehement opposition.

The president’s action means all standing committees in Parliament would have to be reconstituted and reconvened.

Two oversight committees on public enterprises and public accounts have been pointing to many irregularities in running state institutions.

The assembly session dates and timings are set by political party leaders represented in Parliament in concurrence with the House Speaker.

However, the President has the power to prorogue Parliament under Article 70 of the Constitution.

During the prorogation, the Speaker continues to function and the members retain their membership even though they do not attend meetings of Parliament, according to the Colombo Gazette newspaper.

Berlin: Australia on Sunday became the latest country to detect the omicron variant of the coronavirus in travelers who arrived from southern Africa, while Israel decided to bar entry to foreign nationals the toughest of a growing raft of curbs imposed by nations around the world as they scramble to slow its spread.

Confirmed or suspected cases of the new variant have already emerged in several European countries, in Israel and in Hong Kong, just days after it was identified by researchers in South Africa.

The act first, ask questions later approach reflected growing alarm about the emergence of a potentially more contagious variant nearly two years into a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people, upended lives and disrupted economies across the globe.

While much remains to be learned about the new variant, researchers are concerned that it may be more resistant to the protection provided by vaccines and could mean that the pandemic lasts for longer than anticipated.

Israel moved to ban entry by foreigners and mandate quarantine for all Israelis arriving from abroad.

Restrictions on the country’s borders is not an easy step, but it’s a temporary and necessary step, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Dr. Ran Balicer, head of the government’s advisory panel on COVID-19, told Israel’s Kan public radio that the new measures were necessary for the fog of war surrounding the new variant, saying it was better to act early and strictly to prevent its spread.

Many countries have restricted or banned travel from various southern African countries among the latest New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Saudi Arabia. Places that already had imposed restrictions include Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Iran, and the U.S. This goes against the advice of the World Health Organization, which has warned against any overreaction before the variant is thoroughly studied.

Authorities in Australia said two overseas travelers who arrived in Sydney from Africa became the first in the country to test positive for the omicron variant. Arrivals from nine African countries are now required to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival.

The United States’ top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he would not be surprised if the omicron variant was already in the U.S., too.

We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility … it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over, Fauci said on NBC television.

In Europe, much of which already has been struggling with a sharp increase in cases over recent weeks, officials also were on their guard.

The U.K. on Saturday tightened up rules on mask-wearing and on testing of international arrivals after finding two omicron cases. Spain announced it won’t admit unvaccinated British visitors starting Dec. 1. They are currently allowed to enter with a negative coronavirus test.

Italy was going through lists of airline passengers who arrived in the past two weeks after a business traveler who returned from Mozambique and landed in Rome on Nov. 11 tested positive for omicron.

The phase of searching for the new variant has started. Controls at airports, ports and train stations have been reinforced,” said the Lazio region’s top health official, Alessio D’Amato. The region that includes Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci international airport also is sending random virus test samples to the Spallanzani infectious disease hospital in Rome to be analyzed for the new variant.

In France, Health Minister Olivier Veran said that while no cases have yet been confirmed in France, it’s a question of hours, given that omicron infections have been reported in multiple neighboring countries. It is probable that there currently are cases in circulation, he said on a visit to a Paris vaccination center.

While it is not clear yet how existing vaccines work against the omicron variant, Veran said the French government isn’t changing its strategy to fight the latest surge of infections driven by the delta variant, which centers on increasing vaccinations and boosters.

David Hui, a respiratory medicine expert and government adviser on the pandemic in Hong Kong, said that even though it is not clear if current coronavirus vaccines are effective against the new variant, the city’s vaccination rate should be increased and booster doses should be implemented as soon as possible.

He said that the two people who tested positive for the omicron variant had received the BioNTech-Pfizer shot and exhibited very mild symptoms, such as a sore throat.

Vaccines should work but there would be some reduction in effectiveness, he said.