TOP HEADLINES

· British drug maker GSK said on Tuesday its antibody-based COVID-19 therapy with U.S. partner Vir Biotechnology is effective against all mutations of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, citing new data from early-stage studies.

· The Netherlands is drafting in soldiers to support hospitals as cases surge. 

"The military tries to support the Dutch hospitals to make sure that no hospital has to say no to a patient," Martin van Dijk, a Dutch military aid coordinator, told AFP.

· Mandatory vaccinations against the coronavirus are an "absolute last resort," Head of the World Health Organization's Europe division Hans Kluge told reporters on Tuesday.

"Mandates around vaccination are an absolute last resort and only applicable when all feasible options to improve vaccination uptake have been exhausted," Kluge said.

· The UK will not require stricter domestic COVID-19 restrictions in the run up to Christmas because vaccines have put the country in a more resilient position than a year ago, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday.

"We don't think Plan B is required," he told BBC radio. "Why? Because of the success of the vaccine program."

· However, Tim Spector, from the ZOE COVID Study, said that in about 10 days' time the UK could have more cases of the Omicron variant than some countries it had put on the travel red list.

The professor of genetic epidemiology added: "The official estimates are about 350-odd Omicron cases and because the current testing is missing a lot of those, it's probably at least 1,000 to 2,000, I would guess at the moment."

· Meanwhile, UK hospitals have canceled at least 13,000 operations over the past two months as they struggle to cope with COVID-19 care, according to the country's National Health Service (NHS).

· Austria's general lockdown will be lifted on Sunday as planned, new Chancellor Karl Nehammer confirmed on Tuesday. However, restrictions will stay in place for the unvaccinated.

· In France, it is hoped a combination of vaccination booster shots and more rigorous social distancing will avoid renewed lockdowns or curfews. Nightclubs will be shut for four weeks and requirements for mask-wearing in schools will be tightened.

· The UK's Office for National Statistics released data showing that from the week ending March 13, 2020 to the week ending November 26, 2021, the number of excess deaths above the five-year average in England and Wales was 128,740.

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CGTN Asia: Thailand confirms first case of Omicron variant

Cover picture: GSK laboratory. /VCG