The U.S. is better prepared to fight omicron variant, CDC director says

Lara Logan, once a lauded foreign correspondent for CBS News’s “60 Minutes” and now a boundary-pushing Fox News guest commentator and streaming show host, drew fierce condemnation for on-air comments Monday night comparing the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Anthony S. Fauci, to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

Her comments came during a segment in which Fox host Pete Hegseth, a frequent critic of coronavirus vaccine mandates and masking politics, accused the Biden administration of overhyping the new omicron variant.

On Monday, nurses unions from around the world filed a complaint with the United Nations, accusing some wealthy nations of violating human rights by blocking waivers that they say are critical to equitably expanding vaccine access and keeping health workers safe.

The move comes as the World Trade Organization postponed what was to be its biggest meeting in four years — an in-person forum to debate calls to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, which the United States in theory has endorsed — after news of the omicron variant spread Friday.

The World Health Organization is tweaking its travel advice related to the omicron variant just hours after releasing it.

The U.N. health agency originally said that people who are unwell or at risk of developing severe covid-19 and dying are advised to postpone travel, the Associated Press reported. The recommendation applies to people who are at least 60 and those with co-morbidities including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

But the WHO revised that statement later to say that people who haven’t been fully vaccinated or don’t have proof of earlier infection and are at greater risk are advised to postpone travel to areas with “community transmission,” where it’s spreading more widely.

TORONTO — Canada imposed new testing rules Tuesday for travelers in a bid to halt the spread of the omicron variant, and added foreign nationals who have visited Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi in the past 14 days to its list of those banned from entry.

Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s health minister, said the country will require all air travelers — regardless of their vaccination status — to be tested for the coronavirus at the airport on arrival and to self-quarantine while awaiting results.

He said the measure will not apply to travelers arriving from the United States but added that the federal government is working with the provinces and territories to see “whether it could be done if the situation evolves and requires such a policy to be implemented.”

Even with the recent authorization of the coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, many parents and grandparents are still in limbo, anxiously awaiting shots for younger children.

Although children are less likely to suffer severe disease, they can still contract and transmit the virus to others. Those who test positive must quarantine — and may even have to stay home from day-care or preschool when their classmates become ill after exposure to the virus. This forces parents to find alternative child care or take time off from work to care for them, which some families say has become common.

Anvisa, Brazil’s health regulatory agency, said Tuesday that two of the country’s residents had tested positive for the omicron coronavirus variant, according to a Reuters report. They are the first reported cases of the variant in Latin America.

A Brazilian arriving in São Paulo from South Africa and his wife, who had not traveled, tested positive for the new variant, Anvisa said.

The traveler had a negative coronavirus test after arriving at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport on Nov. 23. But before a planned return trip, the couple tested positive. A sample of their test results were sent for further analysis, and the omicron variant was identified.

Massachusetts, along with other states, could soon roll out a digital coronavirus vaccination passport that would allow people to quickly show their vaccination status.

Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said Monday that his administration has been working with more than 15 states on creating an app that uses the scannable quick response (QR) code that would streamline vaccine verification.

“It’s a universal standard, and we’ve been working with a bunch of other states, there’s probably 15 or 20 of them, to try to create a single QR code that can be used for all sorts of things where people may choose to require a vaccine,” Baker said in an interview with GBH News Boston Public Radio.

The federal government on Tuesday required that hundreds of thousands of children attending Head Start, its preschool program for low-income families, begin wearing masks immediately.

“This [rule] requires effective upon publication, universal masking for all individuals two years of age and older, with some noted exceptions,” such as when children are eating, drinking or napping, the Head Start office wrote in an interim final rule published in the Federal Register. Children with disabilities or special health needs also may be exempted from the new rule.