Yogita Limaye
BBC India correspondent

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There are two people infected with the Omicron variant in India, and officials say they are showing mild symptoms of the disease.

The two individuals had travelled from a foreign country but the health ministry has not disclosed where they came from.

Authorities say all the people they came into contact with have been traced and are being tested.

So far India has vaccinated just under half of its adult population. The government has not decided about booster jabs for elderly and vulnerable citizens or frontline workers yet.

Officials also say there are no plans for a lockdown.

India was to open its airports to all international flights from 15 December, but that decision has now been suspended.

This country was devastated by a second wave of Covid in April and May, and news of the new variant has made people anxious.

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More on the UK's Christmas party issue, and the boss of pub group Young's, which runs more than 270 sites across the UK, says the business has seen some cancellations amid concerns over Omicron.

Patrick Dardis says the government's messaging has been "terribly confusing and inconsistent" and has concerned some people.

"One moment you have Jenny Harries telling people to avoid socialising and an hour later you have Sajid Javid saying the opposite," he tells the PA news agency.

"From Friday we had seen some cancellations. We are hoping this all starts to calm down again and that government can properly get the message across that it is safe to go out and celebrate."

Read more: Is the big company Christmas party off this year?

US President Joe Biden is due to address the nation later to set out new measures to deal with Covid-19, and the Omicron variant, over the winter months.

Here are some of the key things we know about so far:

•Over 150 million US residents with private health insurance will be able to get at-home tests covered by health insurance.

•New steps will be announced to encourage booster vaccines for all adults, including new public education campaigns across multiple channels.

•President Biden will call on employers to provide paid time off for their employees to receive boosters. (Currently, one-third of workers report not receiving paid time off for vaccinations, according to the White House.)

•Hundreds of new family vaccination clinics will be launched across the county, with the aim of providing vaccinations for children, teenagers, and adults.

•An additional 25 million at-home tests will be made available to health centres and rural clinics.

•The US will accelerate the delivery of vaccines to other countries, including over 200 million doses over the next 100 days.

The President is scheduled to address the nation from the National Institute of Health near Washington DC at 1:30 PM EST (1830GMT).

Image source, DOWNING STREET

The government has stressed it does not want people to cancel Christmas parties, despite the emergence of the new Omicron variant.

Earlier science minister George Freeman said he and his team have cancelled their Christmas bash, and will be having one on Zoom instead.

But in a new statement, Boris Johnson's official spokesman said: "The prime minister has been very clear on this.

"On Christmas parties, we don't want people to cancel such events. There is no government guidance to that end.

"There are a limited number of restrictions that we have set out on a precautionary basis while we do further investigation into this variant.

"Beyond that, the position has not changed since we moved past Step 4."

You can read up on the latest restrictions here.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

It looks pretty clear – South Africa is at the start of a fourth wave.

What’s more, infection rates appear to be rising more quickly than in previous waves.

That is concerning. But what this means for the rest of the world - and Europe in particular - remains very uncertain.

South Africa, after all, had a wave driven by another variant, Beta, that did not take off everywhere.

What we know about Omicron so far, which is still relatively little, suggests this could be different.

But there are still many unknowns.

Firstly, levels of Delta were very low when Omicron took hold in South Africa. The new variant did not have to work hard to compete.

How it fares in places like the UK, where there is plenty of Delta circulating, remains to be seen.

South Africa has low levels of vaccination – only one in four are immunised – although it has had high levels of infection and that brings its own immunity.

How will Omicron get along in a population that is heavily vaccinated and gaining added protection from boosters?

It is only in the coming weeks and months that we will get the answers to these questions.

Just joining us? Here's a round-up of the day's main Covid headlines:

• The UK government has signed deals to buy 114 million more doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to use in 2022 and 2023
• Pfizer's boss has told the BBC that annual jabs "are likely to be needed" to maintain high levels of protection
• UK regulators have approved a new treatment that could reduce hospitalisation and death by 79% in high-risk adults
• Scientists believe they have found "the trigger" that leads to extremely rare blood clots after the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine
• Health officials say the new coronavirus variant Omicron has now become dominant in South Africa and is driving a sharp increase in new infections
• But the World Health Organization says it believes existing vaccines "will still prevent severe disease" among people who contract the Omicron variant
• Families who lost loved ones during the pandemic have said they are "sickened" by a No 10 Christmas party held during last year's Covid restrictions

Kostas Kallergis
BBC News, Europe Producer

The first case of the Omicron Covid variant has been detected in Chania, Crete island, Greece.

A vaccinated Greek citizen who had recently travelled to South Africa was found to be infected, according to a statement of the Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris.

The president of the Greek Public Health Organization, Theoklis Zaoutis, said this person arrived in Greece on the morning of 26 November and underwent a rapid test at the airport, which came out negative.

He later did rapid tests every day and on 29 November, he tested positive. The next day he had mild symptoms.

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Two men who flew from South Africa to the southern Indian city of Bangalore have tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The men, who are 66 years and 46 years old, are under observation, a government spokesperson has said.

These are the first cases of the Omicron variant to be reported in India.

The World Health Organization has warned that Omicron poses a "high infection risk".

Officials say all primary and secondary contacts of the two men have been traced and are being tested as well.

Six samples from people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the national capital Delhi, and another six samples from the western state of Maharashtra, have all been sent for genome sequencing to determine the variant. Officials are still awaiting results. Several other cities and states are following suit.

Read in full here.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it believes existing vaccines "will still prevent severe disease" among people who contract the new Omicron variant.

The WHO declared it a "variant of concern" on Friday and it says it will know more about Omicron within days.

Spokesperson Margaret Harris says Omicron - first identified in south Africa - is not a variant of "panic".

She told BBC World News’s Yalda Hakim the aim is to get the world alert "but not to get the world to overreact".

The new variant is becoming the dominant Covid strain in South Africa, where the daily number of recorded cases doubled on Wednesday.

Officials there say the variant could be fuelling the surge.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that travel restrictions isolating any one country or region are not only deeply unfair and punitive but ineffective - calling it "travel apartheid".

He says the only way to reduce the risk of transmission while allowing for travel is to repeatedly test travellers, and pair this with other measures.

"We have the instruments to have safe travel. Let's use those instruments to avoid this kind of, allow me to say, travel apartheid, which I think is unacceptable," Guterres told reporters in New York.

The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa and many countries, including the US and the UK, have announced travel curbs and other restrictions on the region.

Africa has some of the lowest vaccination rates globally due to a lack of access to doses.

Guterres added that low immunisation rates were "a breeding ground for variants".

The UK is ramping up its Covid booster campaign in an attempt to stop a potential wave of cases driven by the new Omicron variant.

More than 50 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The government says all eligible adults in England will be offered the chance to book a booster by the end of January.

However, Health Secretary Sajid Javid says "people should wait to be called", before contacting the NHS.

Here's the order of priority in which people will be called:

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More than a million people in the UK continue to experience long Covid, new figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest.

An estimated 1.2 million people in private households reported having long Covid in the four weeks to 31 October. Of these 1.2 million, 439,000 first had - or suspected they had - the virus at least a year ago.

The ONS figures are broadly unchanged from a month ago, but are higher than earlier in the year.

The latest estimate of 1.2 million is up from 945,000 at the start of July and 1.1 million in early September.

Prevalence of long Covid among young people has also increased compared with earlier in the year, the ONS found.

Fatigue continues to be the most common symptom (experienced by 54% of those with self-reported long Covid), followed by shortness of breath (36%), loss of smell (35%) and difficulty concentrating (28%).

You can read more about long Covid and its symptoms here.

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We've just heard from the CEO of a major hotel chain, who said his company is experiencing widespread cancellations in the run up to Christmas.

And according to a new survey, a number of big businesses are holding smaller Christmas parties within departments, rather than larger, company-wide events.

Uncertainty over the Omicron Covid variant has added to safety concerns over large gatherings.

NatWest, Aviva and Deloitte have told staff that attending festive events will be a personal choice.

The events industry had been hoping big Christmas parties would help it recoup lost earnings.

About 52% of UK workplaces have decided not to hold a Christmas office party, according to a survey of 2,000 office workers commissioned by Covid testing company Prenetics.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

We've been hearing a lot about Christmas parties in recent days and whether businesses or indivduals will cancel them in the face of the new coronavirus variant.

Best Western Hotels - which includes 300 small hotels across the UK - has told the BBC it has seen widespread cancellations.

The CEO, Tim Rumney, wants clarity quickly on what people should be doing to try and save some Christmas trading, so businesses and consumers can plan.

He says:

• 75% of Best Western Hotels have seen Christmas bookings cancelled, such as Christmas parties, Christmas dinners and festive dining in the run up to Christmas
• 74% have seen room bookings cancelled too
• 90% of its hotels are now worried about Christmas trading because of the impact of Omicron, and they're also worried about early 2022

“We have had a week of mixed messages about whether people should socialise or not, cancel parties or not and small, independent businesses like our hotels are on the front line feeling the effects of that indecision," Rumney says.

Since July, case numbers in the UK have fluctuated, with numerous peaks and troughs. However, even when falling they have remained comparatively high.

After a further 48,374 were reported yesterday, the current seven-day average for cases stands at 43,607 per day.

Due to the UK's vaccine programme, far fewer people who get Covid are falling seriously ill compared to a year ago.

Nonetheless, the latest available figures suggest there are more than 7,600 people in hospital with Covid-19.

After 171 deaths were reported yesterday, the seven-day average for deaths now stands at 122 per day.

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European Union countries should consider mandatory vaccination to combat Covid, the head of its Commission says.

Ursula von der Leyen says vaccines will be crucial in the fight against the new Omicron variant.

So far, some two dozen countries have reported cases of Omicron.

The EU has tightened travel restrictions since the new variant was first reported earlier this month.

But von der Leyen says it is "understandable and appropriate" for EU members to discuss mandatory Covid vaccinations given that a third of the bloc's population is unvaccinated.

She told a news conference in Brussels earlier this week: "How we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union? This needs discussion. This needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think has to be led."

Only individual EU states can enforce vaccine mandates and some are already taking steps in that direction.

Covid vaccinations are expected to be compulsory in Austria from February next year.

Germany's incoming Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said he supports compulsory jabs.

Read more

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Germany’s national and regional leaders are expected to agree tougher Covid restrictions today, which would only allow people who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid into cinemas, restaurants, clubs and shops other than supermarkets. Outgoing Health Minister Jens Spahn says "what's really important now is a quasi lockdown for the unvaccinated". Another 388 Covid deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Mainland France’s first Omicron-variant case has been detected in the greater Paris region, according to the local health authority. The infected person had recently returned from Nigeria.

Spanish authorities have detected a third case, in a woman from Majorca who travelled from South Africa.

More than half the people put in quarantine in a Dutch hotel after flying in from South Africa have been allowed to leave. None of those still in the hotel is seriously ill.

Swiss Covid cases have reached the same level of last year's second wave, although the numbers being admitted to hospital are not rising so fast. However, hospitals in Zurich say they're full and some politicians are now calling for mandatory vaccinations.

Kosovo is to ban entry to people who have not been fully-vaccinated against coronavirus. The regulation will apply from 3 January.

The emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid has speeded up the UK's vaccine talks and prompted the government to order 114 million more doses to use in 2022 and 2023.

The new strain is "no surprise", says former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who says the failure by richer countries to share vaccine doses is "coming back to haunt us".

The Omicron variant was first identified in southern Africa, where vaccination rates lag behind the global average.

Although the supply of doses to African countries has increased, the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) says donations so far have been "ad hoc, provided with little notice and short shelf lives".

We have reported on several African countries having to throw away vaccine doses because they exceeded their expiry dates.

Read more: Does southern Africa have enough vaccines?

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A new cough, a fever and loss of taste or smell are still the main three symptoms to look out for.

The World Health Organization says there is no evidence that symptoms of Omicron are different to those of other variants.

But there is some suggestion that the new variant could be causing some slightly different symptoms to the Delta variant.

These would include aches and pains and no loss of smell or taste.

But it's too early to say for certain.

So far, in South Africa - where Omicron was first detected - most people infected have shown mild symptoms.

Hospitals there are seeing more young people admitted with more serious symptoms - but many are unvaccinated or have had only one dose.

This suggests that two doses and a booster dose continue to offer a good protection against Omicron and all other variants.

You can read more about Omicron here

Nomsa Maseko
BBC Southern Africa correspondent

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There has been a sustained increase in new Covid infections in many parts of South Africa.

The health department says the increase has been reported in seven of the country’s nine provinces.

New infections are expected to increase in what is now the beginning of the fourth wave in South Africa.

The department says there has also been a slight increase in hospital admissions.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says most of the people who have been hospitalised have not been vaccinated against Covid.

The new variant has been detected in at least 24 countries around the world, according to the World Health Organization.