Europe could be headed for pandemic 'endgame': WHO
The Omicron variant has moved the Covid-19 pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe, the WHO Europe director said Sunday (Jan 23).
"It's plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame," Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview, adding that Omicron could infect 60 per cent of Europeans by March.
Once the current surge of Omicron currently sweeping across Europe subsides, "there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection, and also lowering seasonality."
Fourth Covid-19 vaccine shot raises resistance to serious illness for over-60s: Israel
A fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than thrice-vaccinated people in the same age group, Israel's Health Ministry said on Sunday (Jan 23).
The ministry also said the fourth dose, or second booster, made people over 60 twice as resistant to infection than those in the age group who received three shots of the vaccine.
A preliminary study published by Israel's Sheba medical centre last Monday found that the fourth shot increases antibodies to even higher levels than the third but "probably" not to the point that it could completely fend off the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Taiwan reports new large-scale Chinese air force incursion
Taiwan on Sunday (Jan 23) reported the largest incursion since October last year by China's air force in its air defence zone, with the island's Defence Ministry saying that Taiwanese fighter jets scrambled to warn away 39 aircraft, in the latest uptick in tensions.
For more than a year, Taiwan has complained of repeated missions by China's air force near the democratically governed island, often in the south-western part of its air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
Taiwan calls China's repeated nearby military activities "grey zone" warfare, designed to both wear out Taiwan's forces by making them repeatedly scramble, and also to test Taiwan's responses.
Football: Chelsea beat Spurs 2-0 to keep dwindling title hopes alive
Chelsea kept alive their remote Premier League title chances with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (Jan 23), set on their way by an exquisite strike from Hakim Ziyech which was quickly followed up by a Thiago Silva header.
Ziyech broke the deadlock in the 47th minute when he received the ball on edge of the box after Callum Hudson-Odoi surged forward and the Moroccan curled his shot into the top corner with Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris rooted to the spot.
Thomas Tuchel's men sealed their first league win of 2022 eight minutes later when Silva, despite being sandwiched between two Spurs defenders, headed home a free kick floated into the box by Mason Mount.
Spider-Man: No Way Home swings to sixth-highest grossing movie in history
Add another notch on Spider-Man: No Way Home's long list of box office achievements.
Over the weekend, Sony's comic book adventure became the sixth-highest grossing movie in history with US$1.69 billion (S$2.27 billion) at the global box office (not adjusted for inflation). It passed Jurassic World (US$1.67 billion) and The Lion King (US$1.66 billion) to secure that spot.
Now in its sixth weekend of release, Spider-Man: No Way Home returned to the No. 1 slot in North America, adding US$14.1 million between Friday and Sunday, along with US$27.7 million overseas.
