ba.2 variant. dr. jorge rodriguez is an internal medicine and viral specialist. it s wonderful to be with you. thanks for being with us. we know generally speaking omicron cases were less severe than the previous virus. do you expect that to be true for these subvariants? well, that certainly is the way it appears now, jessica. it appears that as you stated these variants are approximately 25% more contagious. they spread more quickly. so far, so far, we re not seeing an uptick in hospitalizations and casualties. so maybe the virus is becoming pesky and more contagious but less dangerous. right. hey, at this point you know that s not a terrible tradeoff, if we have to stick with covid for a while, it sticks with us. on monday philadelphia will become the first major city to reinstate its min i indoor mask mandate after seeing a 50% over
India on Monday reported a total of 861 new COVID-19 cases, taking the coronavirus tally to 4,30,36,132. According to Union Health Ministry, the country reported at least 6 Covid-related deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,21,691.
India on Wednesday reported 1,086 new Covid cases, with which the country's active cases currently stand at 11,871, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
those infected with covid. our aviation correspondent pete muntean starts us off this hour. he is live at reagan national in arlington, virginia. and shimon prokupecz joins us in times square. pete, let me start with you. 400-plus flights canceled so far? reporter: i just checked the latest numbers, poppy. 468 in the united states. airlines say as these omicron cases went up, their staffing levels went down a little which is why they re cancelling flights now. 170 consolations at united airlines, about 140 at delta air lines. last night we obtained a memo from united airlines to its staff saying this is impacting its flight crews and also those who run the operation. we have received a statement from united airlines which says we unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of coming to the airport. you nighted says we re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their
downgrade that serious threat. i think the findings have showed on some very, very preliminary analysis and very small numbers, which i want to reinforce, that individuals compared to delta are around 30 a5% less likely to attend a&e. but it s finally balanced, if there are a lot more omicron but it s finely balanced, if there are a lot more omicron cases that will still make some people ill enough for hospital treatment as well as increasing staff sickness, adding to the already considerable pressure on the nhs. there is the increase in absence rates, the cueing at hospital, the hearing our control staff call out for any ambulances that are available, and there just aren t any left, that is taking its toll on front line staff. while ministers work out what further steps to take them efforts are being made to get the booster programme into the heart of the local communities here in an asian restaurant in bradford.