falling rapidly. a top expert says the country has passed the peak of the omicron outbreak. david mackenzie has more. reporter: dispatched south of johannesburg, this paramedic says omicron is nothing like delta. even then, it was only covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, and nothing else. reporter: we were with them during the chaos when the delta wave of covid-19 ripped through south africa. severe patients crashed quickly. the team spent hoiurs looking fr hospital beds. charities looked to set up clinics, scrambled to get oxygen cons entree tors to save lives. with omicron, they haven t sent out a single one. he says they call out for less severe patients. like this 46-year-old that tested negative but is still
approves a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to covid-19, becoming the first country to do so. covid also impacting the high seas. the cdc now investigating or closely monitoring nearly 90 cruise ships following coronavirus outbreaks on board there. the situation is so bad the agency now telling the public to avoid cruise travel, regardless, by the way, of your vaccine status. we have got an incredible team standing by with all of the information that you need to know. vaughn hillyard is at new york s laguardia airport, priscilla thompson times square, dr. irwin is founding director at the national center for disaster preparedness joining you see as well. doctor, let s talk first and address this piece coming out of the new york times with south africa declaring that it is now on the other side of their omicron outbreak, it s been about six weeks for them that they have had to deal with this. of course, they had the jump in cases that we have been experiencing over the l
about 100 were admitted to hospital with omicron in this period, but nonetheless, it is the first signs of cautious optimism we can have for a while. as daily cases hit another new record, uk researchers estimate that half of people with cold like symptoms actually have coronavirus. the number of nhs staff off work because of covid has risen by more than 50% in the past week in england to nearly 19,000. it s more than doubled to nearly 4,000. in london, the epicentre of the omicron outbreak, it s more than doubled to nearly 4,000. nhs workforce was already under i pressure before omicron came along, there s increased pressure, - as we re seeing in many workforces at the moment, especially someone needs to isolate| if they have a positive case.
people there within 26 minutes, has been suspended. most train services have been as they try to contain this. but interestingly, rosemary, it s only a partial lockdown in tianjin. they are telling people they can t leave the city. they need permission if they do want to leave. but this is their attempt to try and manage the outbreak and ensure that there is no omicron outbreak before the winter olympics on the 4th of february, rosemary. all right. our thanks to anna coren and salma abdelaziz. an american man is reportedly doing well several days after receiving a genetically modified pig heart in a first of its kind transplant. according to the university school, the patient had terminal heart disease, and the pig heart was the only available option. before the transplant, the genes
. a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. we begin with the latest on the omicron outbreak. today there are growing concerns from parents, teachers, and students, as thousands of kids prepare to return to class. cdc director dr. rochelle walensky addressing those concerns this morning. in the fall of this year, we had a delta surge. and we were able to safely keep our children in school. every jurisdiction is going to have to make these decisions locally, but what i will say is the most important thing we can do is get our children vaccinated, get our teachers vaccinated, get our teenagers vaccinated. and then to practice all of those layered mitigation strategies that have been proven to work. tomorrow in chicago, schools will be shut down for a fourth day as the standoff over covid safety protocols heats up tweens the teachers union and the school district. this comes after the mayor of chicago reje