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A man looks at stock market monitors in Taipei, Jan 22, 2008. (File photo: Reuters/Nicky Loh) - 

Asian stock markets were generally weaker with US crude in holiday-thinned trading on Monday (Dec 27), as uncertainty over the economic impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant weighed on investor sentiment.

US airlines have cancelled or delayed thousands of flights over the past three days due to COVID-19-related staff shortages, while several cruise ships had to cancel stops after outbreaks on board.

In Asia, China reported its highest daily rise in local COVID-19 cases in 21 months over the weekend as infections more than doubled in the northwestern city of Xian, the country's latest COVID-19 hot spot.

Japan's Nikkei lost 0.20 per cent while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.11 per cent.

Mainland Chinese shares, though, were mixed, with Shanghai's benchmark sliding 0.37 per cent but an index of blue chips edged 0.05 per cent higher.

Australia, Hong Kong and Britain are among markets closed Monday for holidays.

"There is concern over the widening spread of the Omicron variant, which is overall making people cautious about taking stocks higher" in Japan, said a market participant at a Japanese securities firm.

Wall Street trading resumes later in the global day following a holiday on Friday. US stocks closed at records on Thursday amid signs Omicron may cause a milder level of illness, even as the highly transmissible strain led to a surge in case numbers around the world.

Emini futures point to a 0.1 per cent rise for the S&P 500 when it reopens.

In the foreign exchange markets, the US dollar continued to languish near the bottom of its range of the past month against a basket of major peers, after hitting a 16-month high in November as Federal Reserve policymakers turned more hawkish.

The dollar index was about flat at 96.116, towards the bottom of the range from 95.544 to the 16-month peak at 96.938 reached on Nov 24.

In the crude market, US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 59 cents to US$73.20 a barrel. The contract did not trade on Friday because of the US market holiday.

Brent crude though rose 26 cents to US$76.40 a barrel, rebounding from Friday's 71 cent decline//CNA

The aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Des Allemands, Louisiana on Aug 31, 2021. (Photo: AP/Steve Helber) - 

The ten most expensive weather disasters this year caused more than US$170 billion in damage, US$20 billion more than in 2020, a British aid group said Monday.

Each year, UK charity Christian Aid calculates the cost of weather incidents like flooding, fires and heat waves according to insurance claims and reports the results.

In 2020, it found the world's ten costliest weather disasters caused US$150 billion in damage, making this year's total an increase of 13 per cent.

Christian Aid said the upward trend reflects the effects of man-made climate change and added that the ten disasters in question also killed at least 1,075 people and displaced 1.3 million.

The most expensive disaster in 2021 was hurricane Ida, which lashed the eastern United States and caused around US$65 billion in damages. After crashing into Louisiana at the end of August, it made its way northward and caused extensive flooding in New York City and the surrounding area.

Spectacular and deadly flooding in Germany and Belgium in July was next on the list at US$43 billion in losses.

A cold snap and winter storm in Texas that took out the vast state's power grid cost US$23 billion, followed by flooding in China's Henan province in July that cost an estimated US$17.6 billion.

Other disasters costing several billion dollars include flooding in Canada, a late spring freeze in France that damaged vineyards, and a cyclone in India and Bangladesh in May.

The report acknowledged its evaluation mainly covers disasters in rich countries where infrastructure is better insured and that the financial toll of disasters on poor countries is often incalculable.

It gave the example of South Sudan where flooding affected around 800,000 people.

"Some of the most devastating extreme weather events in 2021 hit poorer nations, which have contributed little to causing climate change," the report's press release noted.

In mid-December, the world's biggest reinsurer, Swiss Re, estimated natural catastrophes and extreme weather events caused around US$250 billion in damage this year.

It said the total represented a 24 per cent increase over last year and that the cost to the insurance industry alone was the fourth highest since 1970//CNA

Travellers receive tests for COVID-19 at a pre-departure testing facility outside the international terminal at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, Nov 29, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Loren Elliott) - 

Australia on Monday (Dec 27) reported its first confirmed death from the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 amid another surge in daily infections, but the authorities refrained from imposing new restrictions saying hospitalisation rates remained low.

The death, a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions, marked a grim milestone for the country which has had to pause some parts of a staged reopening after nearly two years of stop-start lockdowns, due to the fresh outbreak.

Omicron, which health experts say appears more contagious but less virulent than previous strains, began to spread in the country just as it lifted restrictions on most domestic borders and allowed Australians to return from overseas without quarantine, driving case numbers to the highest of the pandemic.

The authorities gave no additional details about the Omicron death, except to say that the man caught the virus at an aged care facility and died in a Sydney hospital.

"This was the first known death in New South Wales (state) linked to the Omicron variant of concern," said New South Wales Health epidemiologist Christine Selvey in a video released by the government.

The man was among six COVID-19 deaths reported in Australia the previous day, all in the most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, which are home to more than half the country's 25 million population.

New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland states reported a combined 9,107 new cases on Monday, putting the country on track for another peak in new infections. The five other states and territories were yet to report daily case numbers.

"Although we are seeing increased case numbers ... we are not seeing the impacts on our hospital system," said Annastacia Palaszczuk, premier of Queensland.

Queensland reported 784 new cases with four people in hospital.

With reports of six-hour wait times for COVID-19 testing for people hoping to meet requirements for interstate holiday travel, Palaszczuk defended the tourism-friendly state for mandatory testing, saying "everyone knew when they booked a ticket that if they wanted to come here they would have to do a PCR test".

"We need to make sure that we're protecting (Queenslanders)," she said.

Australian authorities have so far resisted a return to lockdown in the face of surging case numbers but have reinstated some restrictions.

On Monday, New South Wales again made it compulsory to check into public venues with QR codes, while many states have brought back mandatory mask-wearing in indoor public places//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Parents pick up their children while wearing masks outside of PS 64 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Dec 21, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) - 

With Omicron cases on the rise, New York health officials have reported an increase in hospitalised children, as the White House promised on Sunday (Dec 26) to quickly resolve the United States' COVID-19 test shortage.

The New York State Department of Health warned "of an upward trend in pediatric hospitalisations associated with COVID-19", in a statement on Friday.

In New York City, it "identified four-fold increases in COVID-19 hospital admissions for children 18 and under beginning the week of Dec 5 through the current week", it said.

About half of the admissions are younger than five, an age group that is vaccine ineligible, the department added.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States is on the rise, with an average of nearly 190,000 new infections daily over the past seven days, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The arrival of the new Omicron variant, compounded by holiday celebrations that typically include travel and family reunions, have caused a rush on tests in the United States, where it is difficult to get one in many locations.

Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci on Sunday acknowledged a COVID-19 "testing problem" and vowed to make more tests available to Americans next month.

"One of the problems is that that's not going to be totally available to everyone until we get to January and there are still some issues now of people having trouble getting tested," Fauci told ABC News.

"But we're addressing the testing problem," he added, saying it should be corrected "very soon".

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced a raft of new measures as the United States battles its latest COVID-19 surge, including shipping half a billion free home tests in the wake of the Christmastime testing crunch.

However, the White House, whose strategy has for weeks been mainly focused on vaccinations, has faced strong criticism over the fact that many tests will not be available until January.

Fauci on Sunday emphasised that the administration was ramping up to tackle the spike and stressed that Omicron was "extraordinarily contagious".

Apart from overwhelming hospitals and COVID-19 testing sites, the COVID-19 variant has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the United States, as crews called in sick or had to quarantine after exposure to the virus.

Recent studies in South Africa and Britain indicate that Omicron was less likely to lead to hospitalisation than the previous strains of the virus and that the duration of hospital stays and oxygen needs for patients were lower, Fauci noted.

But he also warned that Omicron's apparent lower severity is likely to be neutralized by how fast it is spreading.

"The issue that we don't want to get complacent about ... is that when you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity," Fauci said//CNA