Emergency Declared in New York State from Next Month 3rd... Preparing for Omicron Spread Risk

[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The state of New York in the United States declared a state of emergency on the 27th (local time) in preparation for the potential spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. New York is the first state in the U.S. to declare a state of emergency related to the Omicron variant.

This state of emergency will take effect from December 3rd and is expected to be in place until at least January 15th of next year. The emergency measure is aimed at concentrating medical resources on treating COVID-19 patients. Hospitals in New York state with less than 10% remaining beds or those designated separately by the state government will be allowed to refuse non-emergency and non-essential patients.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, "Warning signs continue to be observed that infections will increase this coming winter," adding, "The new Omicron variant has not yet been detected in New York, but it is coming."

The U.S. federal government has recommended travel bans starting from the 29th on eight African countries including South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, where the Omicron variant has emerged.

The Omicron variant, designated as a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organization (WHO), is assessed to be more contagious than previous variants.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the White House's chief medical advisor, appeared on NBC on the same day and said in response to the question, "Could Omicron have already landed in the U.S.?" that "I would not be surprised if that were the case."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.