Christmas travel chaos as 5,700 flights cancelled; France hits 24-hour record of 1 lakh cases

PARIS: The fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 has forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights across the world, dampening Christmas celebration spirits over the weekend.

Commercial airlines around the world cancelled more than 5,700 flights over the Christmas weekend, according to a flight tracker website, as a mounting wave of coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant created greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travellers, Al Jazeera reported.

On Saturday, Pope Francis prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge vaccines for the poor and health care for all.

Italy, China and Ireland have registered a record number of cases.

Here are the top coronavirus developments from around the world:

Flight cancellations drag on as airlines are short-staffed

Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights on Saturday as staffing issues tied to COVID-19 disrupted holiday celebrations during one of the busiest travel times of the year.

FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted 875 flights entering, leaving or inside the US cancelled Saturday, up from 689 on Friday. About 200 more flights were already cancelled for Sunday. FlightAware does not say why flights are cancelled.

Delta, United and JetBlue on Friday had all said the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return. "This was unexpected," she said of omicron's impact on staffing. Delta and JetBlue did not immediately respond to questions Saturday.

According to FlightAware, the three airlines cancelled more than 10% of their Saturday scheduled flights. European and Australian airlines have also cancelled holiday-season flights due to staffing problems tied to COVID.

France breaks 100,000 barrier for 24-hour

Covid infections in France hit six figures on Saturday, health officials recording 104,611 cases over the previous 24 hours, the third consecutive day the numbers have hit record highs. The latest official figures come ahead of a meeting on Monday in which President Emmanuel Macron and key members of his government are set to discuss new Covid safety measures.

China reports highest number of cases in four months

China on Saturday reported 140 new COVID-19 infections, the highest in four months. Officials in the country rushed to contain outbreaks in several regions, including the north-western city of Xi'an where 13 million residents have been under lockdown since Thursday.

Out of the 140 new cases reported on Saturday, 87 were locally transmitted, compared with 55 a day earlier, officials said.

Ireland reports biggest jump in COVID-19 cases

Ireland on Saturday recorded 13,765 new COVID-19 cases, 2,500 more than its previous record of 11,182 cases which was yesterday. Approximately 83% of reported cases are believed to be the Omicron variant.

As of 8 am this morning, there are 378 people in hospital with the virus and 87 people in intensive care with Covid. The Department of Health said, "large volumes" of case numbers are anticipated over the coming period.

The UK's COVID-19 numbers were unavailable because of the Christmas holidays, the next health bulletin will be available on December 27.

Italy sees third successive record tally

Italy on Saturday reported a third successive record tally of COVID-19 cases on Christmas Day, Reuters reported. New cases reached 54,762 compared to 50,599 a day earlier, the health ministry said.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose to 144 from 141 on Friday. Italy has registered 136,530 deaths linked to Covid-19 and has reported 5.57 million cases to date.

Thousands line up for 'jingle jabs' on Christmas in England

Thousands of people across England are spending a few minutes of Christmas Day to line up under leaden winter skies to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as the omicron variant fuels a surge in infections across the country.

The Good Health Pharmacy in north London is one of the dozens of vaccination sites that kept their doors open Saturday to administer "jingle jabs" amid a government push to offer booster shots to all adults by the end of the year.

Pharmacist Fenil Lalji said the shop's owners decided to stay open because they lost a family member to the pandemic and wanted to do what they could to help others stay safe.

"His family have obviously had a really hard time so his children wanted to make sure they could provide the maximum level of contribution to fighting this COVID virus,? Lalji told the BBC.

On Christmas, Pope prays for pandemic's end

Pope Francis prayed for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, using his Christmas Day address to urge health care for all, vaccines for the poor and for dialogue to prevail in resolving the world's conflicts.

Amid a record-setting rise in COVID-19 cases in Italy this week, only a few thousand people flocked to a rain-soaked St Peter's Square for Francis' annual "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the city and the world") Christmas address. Normally, the square would be packed with tens of thousands of holiday well-wishers.

At least they could gather this year. Italy's 2020 holiday lockdown forced Francis to deliver a televised address from inside the Apostolic Palace to prevent crowds from forming in the square. Although Italy this week counted more than 50,000 cases in a single day for the first time, the government has not ordered another lockdown.

Members of K-pop sensation BTS test positive

Three members of K-pop sensation BTS have tested positive for COVID-19 since returning from the US, where they held their first in-person concerts since the pandemic began, the group's management said Saturday.

Rapper RM and vocalist Jin tested positive for the virus Saturday evening, according to Big Hit Music. The announcement came a day after the agency confirmed that Suga, another member of the septet, was "administering self-care at home" following a positive test.

The South Korean group gave their first offline concerts since the start of the pandemic in Los Angeles, which took place from late November to early this month. They have been on holiday since then, and each of the three infected members returned to South Korea on different dates.

While RM and Suga are asymptomatic, Jin has a mild fever, the agency said.

All three members have been fully vaccinated, and none of them had any contact with other group members after their return to South Korea, Bit Hit Music added.

South Africa stops quarantining contacts

South Africa has stopped tracing and quarantining contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases with immediate effect, the health department has said, as the country tries to bounce back from the economic downturn precipitated by the pandemic.

The Director-General of the Department of Health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, confirmed on Thursday that contact tracing would be stopped with immediate effect except in congregate settings and cluster outbreak situations or self-contained settings.

"All contacts must continue with their normal duties with heightened monitoring (daily temperature testing, symptom screening). If they develop symptoms, then they should be tested and be managed according to the severity of the condition," Buthelezi said.

The move comes after scientists and members of the medical fraternity had advised the government that the economic hub of Gauteng province had now passed the peak of a fourth wave.