Beijing unveils new COVID-19 measures ahead of Olympics

 Beijing is unveiling new COVID-19 measures as China's capital city prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month.

People residing in the Fengtai District underwent COVID-19 testing on Sunday after locally transmitted cases were identified in the province, according to Reuters. District health authorities also said they would organize nucleic acid COVID-19 tests for all residents.

Roughly 2 million people live in the Fengtai District, according to The Associated Press.

The government is also requesting that individuals living in “risk areas,” including Fengtai, do not depart from the city, Reuters reported, citing a local government spokesman. Residents of Fengtai were also reportedly asked to stay away from mass gatherings.

Beijing identified nine new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, according to Reuters, six of which were found in Fengtai. China recorded 56 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, which was seven fewer than the day before.

The city is also asking its residents to get tested for COVID-19 if they start developing symptoms of the virus within 14 days of receiving any deliveries from other countries, Reuters noted. Health officials in the capital have said that the first omicron variant cases reported in the city may have come through international mail from Canada.

Beijing reported its first locally transmitted case of the strain earlier this month.

The Winter Olympics are set to begin on Feb. 4 and run until Feb. 20, with athletes from a number of countries traveling to Beijing for the Games. Beijing has already imposed a number of COVID-19 mitigation measures to tame the spread of the virus next month, such as requiring new arrivals to get tested and halting ticket sales to the general public.

China has also said the Olympic torch relay will be limited to three days.

A number of countries, including the U.S., have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games, pointing to human rights abuses in China.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/590946-beijing-unveils-new-covid-19-measures-ahead-of-olympics

US Services PMI Crashes To 18-Month Lows As Omicron Strikes

 With US macro data serially disappointing in recent weeks, it should come as no surprise that analysts expected both Services and Manufacturing surveys from Markit to slide further in preliminary January data. The analysts were right in direction but the magnitude was dramatically worse with Manufacturing dropping from 57.7 to 55.0 (worse than the 56.8 expected) while Services collapsed from 57.6 to 50.9 (hugely worse than the 55.0 expected)...

Source: Bloomberg

That is the lowest Services print since July 2020 and lowest Manufacturing since October 2020, which combined dragged the US Composite PMI down to July 2020 lows - now second only to Japan for the weakest economy in the developed world.

Source: Bloomberg

 

Commenting on the PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit, said:

“Soaring virus cases have brought the US economy to a near standstill at the start of the year, with businesses disrupted by worsening supply chain delays and staff shortages, with new restrictions to control the spread of Omicron adding to firms’ headwinds.

“However, output has been affected by Omicron much more than demand, with robust growth of new business inflows hinting that growth will pick up again once restrictions are relaxed. Furthermore, although supply chain delays continued to prove a persistent drag on the pace of economic growth, linked to port congestion and shipping shortages, the overall rate of supply chain deterioration has eased compared to that seen throughout much of the second half of last year. This has in turn helped lift manufacturing optimism about the year ahead to the highest for over a year, and has also helped bring the rate of raw material price inflation down sharply. Thus, despite the survey signalling a disappointing start to the year, there are some encouraging signals for the near-term outlook ”

Nevertheless, Q1 GDP looks like it's going to be a big disappointment...

Will The Fed be hiking rates in a recession?

Finally, we note that this trend in PMIs is not a good sign for US equity markets...

In fact, perhaps it is the market that is leading Markit lower.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/us-services-pmi-crashes-18-month-lows-omicron-strikes

Fauci Declares It 'Entirely Conceivable' That A Fourth Booster Vaccine Will Be Needed

 by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Appearing on ABC’s This Week Sunday, Anthony Fauci declared that it is “entirely conceivable” that a fourth booster vaccine will soon be needed by all Americans who wish to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’.

“We may need to boost again. That’s entirely conceivable,” Faiuci said, adding “Before we make that decision about yet again another boost, we want to determine clearly what the durability of protection is of that regular boost.”

Watch:

Fauci’s comments come hours after CDC head Rochelle Walensky announced an update to the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’.

“What we are really working to do is pivot the language to make sure that everybody is as up to date with their Covid-19 vaccines and they personally could be based on when they got their last vaccine,” Walensky said Friday.

She added “So importantly right now, we are pivoting our language, we really want to make sure people are up to date. That means if you recently got your second dose, you are not eligible for a booster, you’re up to date. If you are eligible for a booster and you haven’t gotten it, YOU’RE NOT UP TO DATE and you need to get your booster in order to be up to date.”

Watch:

According to an Economist/YouGov survey released last week, almost one-third of Americans (31 percent) say they have not received a COVID vaccination, with 64 percent of those people saying they do not plan on getting any of the shots, and just 20 percent noting they “might” get one in the future.

Israel has instituted a fourth booster shot, and has just become the number one country in the world for new coronavirus infections per capita.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/watch-fauci-declares-it-entirely-conceivable-fourth-booster-vaccine-will-be-needed

Oxford : Mixed Vaccines Offer Strong Booster Responses After 2 Doses Of Coronavac Vax

 OXFORD UNIVERSITY: MIXED VACCINE SCHEDULES OFFER STRONG BOOSTER RESPONSES AFTER TWO DOSES OF CORONAVAC VACCINE

* OXFORD: THIRD BOOSTER OF EITHER ASTRAZENECA, PFIZER, JANSSEN OR SINOVAC COVID SHOT INDUCE HIGHER ANTIBODIES IN THOSE WHO PREVIOUSLY GOT TWO SINOVAC DOSES

* OXFORD UNIVERSITY: STRONGEST RESPONSES WERE SEEN WITH MIXED VACCINE SCHEDULES, INCLUDING AGAINST DELTA AND OMICRON VARIANTS OF CONCERN - STUDY

* OXFORD UNIVERSITY - STUDY PROVIDES IMPORTANT OPTIONS FOR POLICYMAKERS IN MANY COUNTRIES WHERE INACTIVATED VACCINES, LIKE CORONAVAC, HAVE BEEN USED

* OXFORD UNIVERSITY - STUDY SHOWS INACTIVATED VACCINE, CORONAVAC, CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY BOOSTED WITH A RANGE OF DIFFERENT VACCINES

* OXFORD UNIVERSITY: STUDY WAS FUNDED BY MINISTRY OF HEALTH, BRAZIL, AND CONDUCTED BY RESEARCHERS FROM BRAZIL AND UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

* OXFORD: VOLUNTEERS WERE DIVIDED INTO FOUR GROUPS, GOT EITHER ASTRAZENECA, PFIZER, JANSSEN OR SINOVAC BOOSTER, SIX MONTHS AFTER PRIOR IMMUNISATIONS 

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ASTRAZENECA-PLC-4000930/news/Oxford-Says-Mixed-Vaccine-Schedules-Offer-Strong-Booster-Responses-After-2-Doses-Of-Coronavac-Vaccin-37626472/

Codexis Gets FDA Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease Tags for CDX-6512 in Homocystinuria

 Codexis Inc. on Monday said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the company orphan drug designation for CDX-6512 for the treatment of homocystinuria.

Codexis said the FDA also granted rare pediatric disease designation for CDX-6512, which is currently in pre-IND development and the most advanced wholly-owned program in the company's biotherapeutics pipeline.

Homocystinuria is a rare inborn error of metabolism and is characterized by elevated levels of homocysteine in blood and urine that when left untreated can lead to learning and intellectual disabilities, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and stroke.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CODEXIS-INC-6149420/news/Codexis-Gets-FDA-Orphan-Drug-and-Rare-Pediatric-Disease-Designations-for-CDX-6512-in-Homocystinuria-37625188/

UK to begin testing Merck's COVID pill for hospitalized patients

  British scientists will begin testing Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics' antiviral pill molnupiravir as a possible treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, amid the worldwide spread of the Omicron variant.

The pill is approved in Britain https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/britain-approves-mercks-oral-covid-19-pill-2021-11-04 for use in people with mild to moderate COVID-19, but it is not known whether it would work in patients hospitalized with severe illness, researchers of the RECOVERY trial said on Monday.

The study will compare 800 mg doses of molnupiravir, given twice daily for five days, with standard care for adult patients in hospitals because of COVID-19.

In 2020, the same scientists conducting the large trial showed https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-steroid-idUSKBN23N1VP that dexamethasone was able to save the lives of COVID patients in what was called a "major breakthrough" in the coronavirus pandemic.

"Adding molnupiravir (to the study) will allow us to study this drug on its own, but also in combination with other COVID-19 treatments," said Peter Horby, joint chief investigator of the trial and Oxford University professor.

Treatments that have been or being tested in the RECOVERY trial include arthritis drug tocilizumab, steroid dexamethasone, common antibiotic azithromycin, painkiller aspirin, and antibody treatments from Regeneron and GSK-Vir . 

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/GLAXOSMITHKLINE-PLC-9590199/news/UK-to-begin-testing-Merck-s-COVID-pill-for-hospitalized-patients-37623187/

OPKO Health Shares Drop 20% After Complete Response Letter for Somatrogon

 OPKO Health Inc. shares fell 20% to $3.41 after the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its treatment for children with growth hormone deficiency that it developed with partner Pfizer Inc.

On Friday, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter for the Biologics License Application for somatrogon, an investigational once-weekly long-acting recombinant human growth hormone for the treatment of growth hormone deficiency in pediatric patients.

Pfizer said it is evaluating the FDA's comments and will work with the agency to determine an appropriate path forward.

Regulatory applications for somatrogon have been submitted to several countries around the world for review. Japan last week approved somatrogon injectable pens for the long-term treatment of pediatric patients who have growth failure due to an inadequate secretion of endogenous growth hormone.

In 2014, Pfizer and OPKO entered into a worldwide agreement for the development and commercialization of somatrogon for the treatment of GHD. Under the agreement, OPKO is responsible for conducting the clinical program and Pfizer is responsible for registering and commercializing the product for GHD.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/OPKO-HEALTH-INC-40449569/news/OPKO-Health-Shares-Drop-20-After-Complete-Response-Letter-for-Somatrogon-37626353/