Millions of people are facing travel disruption and increased Covid restrictions over Christmas, as the surging Omicron variant sees flights cancelled and safety curbs tightened.
Italy, Spain and Greece have made face masks compulsory outdoors again.Catalonia, in northern Spain, has imposed an overnight curfew, and the Netherlands is in a strict lockdown.Despite early findings that Omicron is milder than other variants, scientists are concerned by the number of cases.
Record infections were tallied in the UK, France and Italy on Thursday.In the US, daily Omicron cases have risen beyond the peak of the recent Delta wave, and hospitals are filling up across the country.
On Christmas Eve (Friday), US airlines said they were already suffering from staffing shortages due to flight crews testing positive or being forced to self-isolate.United Airlines said rising numbers of Omicron cases had “had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation”, adding that it was contacting impacted passengers in advance of them coming to the airport.Hundreds of US flights scheduled for 24 December have been cancelled, according to the FlightAware website.The US is to lift travel restrictions imposed on eight African countries because of concerns about the Omicron variant on 31 December, the White House confirmed.Travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi had been blocked since 29 November.In Australia, too, thousands of festive journeys were affected on Friday with more than 100 domestic flights from Sydney and Melbourne to other cities cancelled.
