Bhutan has started giving COVID-19 booster shots to senior citizens and priority groups as the Himalayan kingdom tries to stave off the omicron variant, health ministry officials said on Friday, report agencies.
Those aged 65 and older, overseas travellers, health workers, sufferers from chronic ailments and all adults living in "high risk" areas are eligible, the officials said.
"Bhutan becomes the first country in the South Asian region to administer booster doses," public service broadcaster BBS said in a report.
Report from Bangkok adds: Thailand reported on Friday its first domestic cluster of coronavirus infections from the omicron variant in Kalasin province in northeastern Thailand, officials said.
"From the Kalasin cluster, there are 21 new infections," said country's COVID-19 taskforce spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan.
The infections stem from a couple who travelled from Belgium through the country's Test & Go scheme that waived quarantine for vaccinated arrivals, she said.
Another report adds: United Airlines and Delta Air Lines on Thursday said they had each cancelled dozens of Christmas Eve flights, as the spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant takes a toll on its flight crews and other workers.
Chicago-based United cancelled 120 flights for Friday, while Atlanta-based Delta said it has cancelled about 90. Both said they were working to contact passengers so they would not be stranded at airports.
Meanwhile, Amid a global scare over the new strain of Covid-19, the overall number of coronavirus cases has now surged past 278 million.
According to Worldometers, the total case count mounted to 278,656,140 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,403,596 Friday evening.
More than 8.89 billion doses have been administered
across 184 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 42.4 million doses a day.
The US has recorded 5,385,833 cases to date and more than 815,368 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,226,573 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 618,228.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,772,4657 on Thursday, as 6,681 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Besides, 104 deaths from the pandemic have been reported since Tuesday morning, taking the total death toll to 478,863.
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