Raphael Stevens

The U.K. could be one of the first countries to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to one leading scientist.
The U.K. was criticized by many for its reluctance to introduce more Covid rules in the face of the omicron variant.
Professor David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that “the U.K is the closest to any country in being out of the pandemic if it isn’t already out of the pandemic and having the disease as endemic.”

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures while visiting St Thomas Hospital to receive his coronavirus booster vaccination, in London, Britain December 2, 2021.
Paul Edwards | Reuters

LONDON — It’s been criticized by many for its reluctance to introduce more Covid-19 restrictions in the face of the omicron variant, but the U.K. could be one of the first countries to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, according to one leading scientist.
Speaking of various responses to Covid, and particularly the latest wave of cases caused by the virulent omicron variant, leading public health official Professor David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that “the U.K is the closest to any country in being out of the pandemic if it isn’t already out of the pandemic and having the disease as endemic.”

“Countries are now seeing population immunity build up … and that seems to be keeping the virus at bay, not causing serious illness or death in countries where population immunity is high.”
Heymann, speaking at an online seminar hosted by think tank Chatham House on Monday, cited the latest figures from the U.K.’s statistics authority on immunity that estimated that 95% of the population in England have antibodies against infection, either through vaccination or natural infection. The majority of those in intensive care units now, Heymann added, were the unvaccinated.
The U.K. government was criticized last month for refusing to bring in more restrictions on social mixing ahead of Christmas as the omicron variant, first discovered in South Africa in late November, spread rapidly. The U.K. was one of the first countries to be hit hard by the highly infectious strain.
Omicron was dubbed as “of concern” by the World Health Organization given the high number of mutations of the strain and fears it could undermine Covid vaccines.

We now know that omicron is far more infectious than previous variants of the virus, including the delta variant, but a growing number of studies and real-world data show that it is causing less severe illness, although this could also be due to widespread vaccination campaigns.

Covid vaccination offers high levels of protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death and vaccine makers say early studies have shown that booster shots significantly restore protection against the omicron variant.

The U.K. government has had to hold its nerve in recent weeks by not introducing new restrictions on the public, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling the British public that they would have to “learn to live with the virus” last year.
The government has maintained this stance, despite fellow European countries introducing far stricter rules on socializing and travel in the last month (and some introducing partial or full lockdowns).
There are glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel, however, with increasing signs that the peak of the omicron wave of infections is proving to be shorter and sharper than those seen with previous variants. The daily number of cases being reported by the U.K. is steadily falling although they still remain at high levels; on Tuesday, over 120,000 cases were recorded.

Hospitals in the U.K. and around Europe are operating at very high levels of capacity although hospitalizations remain at lower levels than in previous waves of the pandemic when vaccine coverage was lower.
Global health officials caution that it’s too early to say the pandemic has entered an “endemic” phase, where there are persistent but low-to-moderate levels of Covid in any given population in future but the virus is not causing excessive levels of infection or spreading from country to country (which would make it a pandemic again).
The U.K.’s Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC Sunday that the country was on the road “from pandemic to endemic” as the government said it could reduce the period of self-isolation for vaccinated people who test positive for Covid from seven days to five (as with the latest guidance in the U.S.) to alleviate staff absences in the workplace and the massive economic disruption caused by Covid.

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There are growing calls in Europe for the coronavirus to be treated as an endemic illness, like the flu.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is the latest leader to suggest it’s time to re-evaluate Covid.
Britain’s government has already told the public that it must “to learn to live with the virus.”

People walk in Regent Street, in London.
SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

LONDON — There are growing calls in Europe for Covid-19 to be treated as an endemic illness like the flu despite strong warnings from global health officials that the pandemic is far from over.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is the latest European leader to stick his head above the parapet by suggesting that it’s time to re-evaluate Covid. He called on the EU to debate the possibility of treating the virus as an endemic illness.

“The situation is not what we faced a year ago,” Sánchez said in a radio interview with Spain’s Cadena SER on Monday as Spanish school children returned to their classrooms after the holidays.
“I think we have to evaluate the evolution of Covid to an endemic illness, from the pandemic we have faced up until now,” he added. Sanchez said it was time to open the debate around a gradual re-appraisal of the pandemic “at the technical level and at the level of health professionals, but also at the European level.”
Sanchez’s comments mark something of a departure from fellow leaders on the continent, however, with most of them focused on the immediate challenge of tackling alarming numbers of Covid cases caused by the omicron variant, which is highly infectious but widely appearing to cause less severe illness more akin to a cold than the flu symptoms seen with earlier variants.

France, for example, has been reporting over 300,000 new daily cases in recent days and Germany reported 80,430 new infections on Wednesday, the highest recorded in a single day since the pandemic began, according to Reuters.
Sanchez’s comments echo those made in the U.K. by politicians last year with Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling the British public that they would have to “learn to live with the virus.”

With that in mind, the British government has had to hold its nerve in recent weeks by not introducing new restrictions on the public, despite what Johnson described as a “tidal wave” of cases caused by omicron.
The U.K.’s Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC Sunday that the country was on the road “from pandemic to endemic” as the government said it could reduce the period of self-isolation for vaccinated people who test positive for Covid from seven days to five (as with the latest guidance in the U.S.) to alleviate staff absences in the workplace and the massive economic disruption caused by Covid.
With omicron cases appearing to fall in the U.K. (despite the number of infections remaining at high levels) Britain’s strategy could have helped it overcome an omicron peak sooner rather than later with one public health expert saying the U.K. will be one of the first countries in the world to emerge from the pandemic.
Speaking at a seminar Monday, Professor David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that “the U.K is the closest to any country in being out of the pandemic if it isn’t already out of the pandemic and having the disease as endemic.”

WHO warns no ‘endemicity’ yet

Many epidemiologists and virologists have stated that Covid — which first emerged in China in late 2019 before spreading around the world, causing over 313 million cases to date, and over 5 million deaths — is here to stay and will become an endemic disease eventually.
That means that there will be persistent but low-to-moderate levels of Covid in any given population in future but that the virus should not be causing excessive levels of infection or spreading from country to country (which would make it a pandemic again).
The World Health Organization is warning that it’s too soon to consider Covid an endemic disease, however. It warned Tuesday that the global outbreak is far from being at an endemic stage as it estimated that more than half of the people in Europe and Central Asia could be infected with Covid in the next six to eight weeks as omicron spreads.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Catherine Smallwood, a senior emergency officer at WHO Europe, said it’s too soon to suggest the world is moving into an endemic phase of Covid.
“In terms of endemicity, we’re still a way off, and I know there’s a lot of discussion around that right now,” Smallwood said.
“Endemicity assumes that there’s stable circulation of the virus, at predictable levels and potentially known and predictable waves of epidemic transmission,” she said.
“But what we’re seeing at the moment coming into 2022 is nowhere near that, we still have a huge amount of uncertainty, we still have a virus that’s evolving quite quickly and posing new challenges so we’re certainly not at the point of being able to call it endemic. It might become endemic in due course but pinning that down to 2022 is a but difficult at this stage.”

Smallwood noted that widespread vaccination coverage would be key to moving to such a scenario but, for now, the conditions for endemicity were not being met.
Marco Cavaleri, head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy at the European Medicines Agency, the EU’s drug regulator, said Tuesday that “nobody knows when exactly we’ll be at the end of the tunnel” in terms of the pandemic becoming endemic, but added that progress is being made.
“What is important is that we are moving towards the virus becoming more endemic but I cannot say we’ve already reached that status, so the virus is still behaving as a pandemic,” he told a press briefing.
“Nevertheless, with the increase of immunity in the population, and with omicron there will be a lot of natural immunity taking place on top of vaccination, we will be moving fast towards a scenario that will be closer to endemicity.”

Booster conundrum

Covid vaccination remains patchy around the world. While rich countries roll out booster shots and even discuss the possibility of fourth Covid jabs, poorer countries are still rolling out their initial doses and many people remain unprotected by vaccines that have been proven to reduce the risk of severe infection, hospitalization and death.
According to Our World in Data, 59.2% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine but only 8.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.

Booster shots are not unproblematic, however, with scientists at the WHO and elsewhere warning that continual boosters are not a viable strategy.
The EMA’s Cavaleri said Tuesday that “repeated vaccinations within short intervals will not represent a sustainable long-term strategy.”
“If we have a strategy in which we give boosters every four months, we will end up potentially having problems with immune response … so we should be careful with not overloading the immune system with repeated immunization,” he said.
“And secondly of course there is the risk of fatigue in the population with continuous administration of boosters.” Ideally, Cavaleri said, “if you want to move towards a scenario of endemicity, then such boosters should be synchronized with the arrival of the cold season” and be timed to be given with flu vaccines.
“We will have to think about how we can transition from the current pandemic setting to a more endemic setting,” he noted.

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CNBC Travel

Last year wasn’t a stellar year for travelers.
Perhaps that’s why so many are pinning their hopes on 2022. 

Travel bookings and inquiries are surging, say travel insiders, in an upward trajectory that, if realized, may both benefit and challenge travelers in the coming year.  

‘People want to make up for lost time’

Travel in 2022 will be even busier than before the pandemic, said Brandon Berkson, the founder of the New York-based travel company Hotels Above Par.
“People want to make up for lost time,” he said, adding that potential customers have stated their desire to travel next year is greater than ever before.
Ben Drew, president of the TripAdvisor-owned travel company Viator, said in December that the demand for upcoming travel is “extraordinary.”

Beach and mountain destinations are popular, with bookings rising 1,665% to Tulum, Mexico (seen here) and nearly 700% to Denali National Park from 2019 to 2021, according to Viator.
M Swiet Productions | Moment | Getty Images

“Travel came roaring back,” he said. “Even in the face of omicron, travelers are booking more experiences than at this time in pre-pandemic 2019.”

Viator’s 2022 data shows bookings are also increasing from summer to fall, a time when travel typically slows down.
While acknowledging 2022 may “come with challenges,” Drew said he expects it to be “a chapter of resilience, resurgence and growth for the travel industry.”

Is the industry ready?

While news of a business boom is likely music to the beleaguered travel industry’s ears, it could be problematic if it happens too quickly, said Manoj Chacko, executive vice president of the business management company WNS.
“The speed and force of demand could catch some travel industry players off guard,” he said. “Airlines, for instance, could struggle to re-hire pilots. Moreover, pilots might need additional training and skill refresher programs.”
Airlines aren’t the only part of the travel sector that may struggle to hire staff this year.
Some 62 million travel-related jobs were lost in 2020, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. While many of these jobs are now returning — in October, the WTTC estimated the industry’s employment levels would rise 18% in 2022 — former employees aren’t rushing back to their old roles.
Burned by industrywide layoffs, some workers settled into other industries. Others are unwilling to take front-line positions in an era of rising customer anger and aggressive behavior.

Spain, Italy, France, the U.K., Portugal (seen here) and the U.S. are some of the countries facing staff shortages in the tourism industry, according to the WTTC.
Gonzalo Azumendi | Stone | Getty Images

One in 13 travel-related jobs in the United States is expected to remain unfilled, according to a WTTC staffing report published in December. In Portugal, the numbers rise to 1 in 9, according to the report.
“It’s hard to find cooks and enough servers to deal with the surge and the recovery of demand in the industry,” Jon Bortz, the CEO of the U.S.-based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, told CNBC’s “The Exchange” last year.
To fill the gap, employees are working overtime and managers are “taking shifts,” he said.
For travelers, worker shortages can spell travel delays and a reduction in services, from fewer restaurant reservations to the elimination of daily housekeeping services.
“We were one of the first industries to be hit; we’ll be probably one of the last to recover completely,” said Bortz. “We would certainly ask customers to be patient.”

A push for tech

A dearth of workers underscores the industry’s shift, which started long before the pandemic, to using technology to perform certain jobs in the travel sphere.
Tasks such as delivering room service and cleaning airports can be done by robots, said Rachel Fu, chair of the University of Florida’s Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management department. Hotels can also use “concierge robots” to help customers make reservations, she said.
“Using AI wisely can significantly reduce labor costs without sacrificing the level of personalized services,” said Fu.

We will be seeing many more touchless elevators next year.

Nima Ziraknejad
NZ Technologies, founder and CEO

This may help businesses close some labor gaps, but innovations that directly affect travelers may be even more important as companies continue to battle for tourist dollars.
Some hotels let guests check in and out, book airport transfers and make spa appointment via apps, like the one by luxury brand Four Seasons.   
“Unlike many other hospitality apps, Four Seasons Chat is powered by real people on property,” said Ben Trodd, senior vice president of sales and hotel marketing at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
A technology called “HoverTap” makes elevators touch-free. Created by the tech company NZ Technologies, these elevators are in use in Canada, according to company representatives.
“We will be seeing many more touchless elevators next year,” said Nima Ziraknejad, the company’s founder and CEO.
Here’s how they work:

Elevators are just the beginning. The technology can be used on any high-touch surface, said Ziraknejad. The company plans to expand into self-service kiosks in airports, restaurants and hotels, as well as ATMs and airplane seatback entertainment systems, he said.
Soon companies that have these technological advancements will have an advantage over those that don’t, said WNS’ Chacko.
“In some countries, passengers are still expected to fill out paper forms and adhere to the norms of officials physically handling their passports and other travel documents,” he said. “Elsewhere, for instance, in Spain, most information … can be uploaded onto a single app.”
As customer expectations and the availability of touchless technologies increase, these advancements “will surely emerge as a key competitive differentiator,” he said.
Correction: HoverTap’s elevator technology is currently in use only in Canada. A previous version of the story misstated the countries where it’s used.
 
 

              
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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

“The charts, as interpreted by Carolyn Boroden, suggest the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 really was due for a bounce this week and that bounce could continue,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday.
However, Cramer said to be careful because Boroden believes “the overall technical picture remains ugly.”

The Nasdaq 100 still faces an uncertain near-term outlook despite its intraday turnaround Monday and additional gains Tuesday, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said, leaning on technical analysis from Carolyn Boroden.
“The charts, as interpreted by Carolyn Boroden, suggest the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 really was due for a bounce this week and that bounce could continue,” the “Mad Money” host said. However, Cramer said to be careful because Boroden believes “the overall technical picture remains ugly.”

Cramer said Boroden identified a potential bounce this week for the Nasdaq 100 through Fibonacci ratios, which she and other market technicians use to identify timing cycles that shed light on when a security may change direction. The root of the Fibonacci strategy is a numerical sequence identified in the 13th century by Leonardo Fibonacci, an Italian mathematician.  

Arrows pointing outwards

Technical analyst Carolyn Boroden identified seven Fibonacci timing cycles this week.
Mad Money with Jim Cramer

While Cramer said Boroden believes the tech rebound “could have legs,” it’s not entirely clear how long they will last. After all, he noted, tech’s late December strength lasted for about a week and a half before giving way to the early 2022 weakness.
Additionally, Boroden sees at least two bearish technical indicators that suggest it may be difficult for the index to enter a sustained upside move to new highs, Cramer said.
The first is that the Nasdaq 100 remains below its 50-day moving average, Cramer said, calling that a “kiss of death for most chartists.” He added, “There are a lot of money managers out there who follow these charts, even if they won’t always admit it.”

Arrows pointing outwards

Nasdaq 100’s 50-day moving average (green), five-day exponential moving average (blue) and 13-day EMA (red).
Mad Money with Jim Cramer

The second is the Nasdaq 100’s five-day exponential moving average and its 13-day exponential moving average, Cramer said. “When the five-day crosses below the 13-day, that’s one of [Boroden’s] most reliable sell signals, and right now it’s very much in effect for the Nasdaq 100.”

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Tuesday’s stock market rally was made possible by cooling bond yields and favorable commentary from the Fed chief, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said.
“Sometimes, there’s just too much good news to ignore,” the “Mad Money” host said.
“You have to be ready for these because a stock market that dies by the bond market’s sword can also prosper from it,” he added.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that Tuesday’s stock market rally was made possible by cooling bond yields and favorable commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“Sometimes, there’s just too much good news to ignore,” the “Mad Money” host said after the Dow Jones Industrial Averaged gained 0.51%, S&P 500 rose 0.92% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.41%.

Wall Street is off to a rocky start in the new year, with equity markets struggling against the backdrop of rising bond yields, which move inversely to prices. Cramer said that move in Treasurys was a key reason why so many stocks, especially those in the S&P 500, were being sold early in 2022, namely by large money managers and algorithmic traders.
But with bond yields falling on Tuesday and Powell’s congressional testimony emphasizing a data-based approach to interest rate hikes, Cramer said it cleared the way for investors to search for attractive stocks to purchase.
“We see the trees through the forest, so to speak. And it turns out, while the forest was looking pretty terrible, there are enough healthy trees that it makes sense to do some buying,” said Cramer, whose charitable trust on Tuesday added to its positions in Bausch Health and Danaher.

Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:

Cramer said other stocks shook off slumps and performed well Tuesday, including Amazon, after Morgan Stanley raised its price target. He also mentioned Apple, saying the iPhone maker’s shares finally caught a bid after some positive research notes in recent days.
“The bottom line? When bonds finally go in the right direction and Jay Powell stays thoughtful, we get ourselves a stock picker’s market like we had today,” Cramer said. “You have to be ready for these because a stock market that dies by the bond market’s sword can also prosper from it.”

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