in the philippines, as the number killed by a super typhoon is now at 375. the chinese tennis star peng shuai retracts an accusation of sexual assault against a former top communist party official but critics still fear she may have been speaking under duress. hello and welcome. countries around the world are scrambling to track the omicron variant and deciding when and if more measures are needed. here the british cabinet has been meeting, to discuss how to deal with the surge in cases here. the uk has the highest number of confirmed omicron cases in europe. the bbc has been told, civil servants have prepared three different options, ranging in severity with boris johnson likely to face strong opposition to further restrictions, from within his own party. new rules have been announced in other parts of europe more on that in a moment but first the latest on the pressure on borisjohnson. here s jonathan blake. boosterjabs are still the main hope in the battle agains
on with fixtures as planned despite covid forcing a series of games to be cancelled. the chinese tennis star peng shuai retracts an accusation of sexual assault but critics still fear she may have been speaking under duress. also ahead pleas for urgent supplies in the philippines, as the number killed by a super typhoon is now at 375. hello and welcome. countries around the world are scrambling to track the omicron variant and deciding when and if more measures are needed. here, the british cabinet has been meeting to discuss how to deal with the surge in cases. the uk has the highest number of confirmed omicron cases in europe. the bbc has been told civil servants have prepared three different options ranging in severity with boris johnson likely to face strong opposition to further restrictions from within his own party. new rules have been announced in other parts of europe more on that in a moment but first, the latest on the pressure on borisjohnson. here s jon
live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. hello and welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the world. it s 7am in the morning in singapore and midnight in geneva, where the world health organization has warned the omicron variant of coronavirus appears pretty good at evading immune responses. the who has said it s also causing an increase in infections, both in the vaccinated and those who ve already had the disease. here s what the head of the organisation had to say. there is now consistent evidence that omicron is spreading significantly faster than the delta variant. and it s more likely that people who have been vaccinated or have recovered for covid 19 could be infected or reinfected. here are some of the other major developments in the coronavirus pandemic at this hour. switzerland has become the latest european country to introduce new covid restrictions, including a mandatory order to work from home. indonesia has added the united kingdo
announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with michael holmes. not a wave but a covid tsunami. that is the warning from one u.s. health expert as the omicron variant threatens to plunge the country into yet another covid emergency. the delta variant is already driving a surge in cases and hospitalizations, but experts say omicron will overtake delta soon, straining a health care system that s already at the brink. that s why officials say it is more important than ever for americans to get vaccinated and boosted. and new numbers underscore why that is so. according to data from the cdc, unvaccinated people are 20 times more likely to die from covid than people who have been fully vaccinated and boosted. and yet around 70% of fully vaccinated americans still haven t gotten that extra dose. we could be in for an ominous winter season and a kind of grim beginning of the new year. there are still so many now vaccinated but still not boosted folks out there.