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FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic - 

Novavax Inc said on Friday (Nov 26) it had started working on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine to target the variant detected in South Africa and would have the shot ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks.

The company's COVID-19 shot contains an actual version of the virus' spike protein that cannot cause disease but can trigger the immune system. The vaccine developer said it had started developing a spike protein specifically based on the known genetic sequence of the variant, B.1.1.529.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the variant, named omicron, as being "of concern", a label only given to four variants to date.

"The initial work will take a few weeks," a company spokesperson said. Shares of the company closed up nearly 9 per cent on Friday.

Novavax's vaccine received its first emergency use approval earlier this month in Indonesia followed by the Philippines.

The company has said it is on track to file for US approval by the end of the year. It has also filed for approvals with the European Medicines Agency as well as in Canada.

Other vaccine developers, including Germany's BioNTech SE and Johnson & Johnson, have said they are testing the effectiveness of their shots against the new variant.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc said it had begun testing its vaccine candidate, INO-4800, to evaluate its effectiveness against the new variant. The company expects the testing to take about two weeks.

Inovio also said it was simultaneously designing a new vaccine candidate that specifically targeted Omicron.

"Best case scenario, INO-4800 ... will be completely resilient against omicron, but if that's not the case then we will have a newly designed vaccine ready to go if need be," said Kate Broderick, senior vice president of Inovio's R&D division.

Earlier this month, Inovio resumed a late-stage trial of its vaccine in the United States after 14 months on clinical hold//CNA

Passengers queue to get a PCR test against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before traveling on international flights, at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov 26, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham) - 

The discovery of a new coronavirus variant triggered global alarm on Friday (Nov 26) as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

The United States will restrict travel from South Africa - where the new mutation was discovered - and neighbouring countries effective Monday, a senior Biden administration official said.

Going further, Canada said it was closing its borders to those countries, following bans on flights announced by Britain, the European Union and others.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was designating the B11529 variant, named omicron, as being "of concern", a label only given to four variants to date.

But it could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations. Health authorities are seeking to determine if omicron is more transmissible or infectious than other variants and if vaccines are effective against it.

South Africa's Health Minister Joe Phaahla called the travel restrictions "unjustified", though he also said preliminary studies suggested the new variant may be more transmissible.

"This new variant of the COVID-19 virus is very worrying. It is the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen to date," said Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain's Warwick university.

"Some of the mutations that are similar to changes we've seen in other variants of concern are associated with enhanced transmissibility and with partial resistance to immunity induced by vaccination or natural infection."

Those worries pummelled financial markets, especially stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, and oil, which tumbled by about US$10 a barrel. 

Meanwhile, the scramble to ban air travel from southern Africa left hundreds of passengers on two KLM flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg stranded on the tarmac for hours at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport before they were transferred for testing.

Several other countries including India, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates also toughened travel curbs.

In Geneva the WHO - whose experts on Friday discussed the risks that the variant, called B11529, presents - had earlier warned against travel curbs for now.

"It's really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here," said the WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan, praising South Africa's public health institutions for picking up the new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different to the one in the original coronavirus that vaccines are based on, the UK Health Security Agency said, raising fears about how current vaccines will fare.

"As scientists have described, (this is) the most significant variant they've encountered to date," British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.5 per cent, tracking its worst day since late October 2020, and European stocks had their worst day in 17 months as financial markets digested the news.

Cruise operators Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line plunged more than 9 per cent each, while shares in United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines slumped almost 10 per cent.

The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting almost 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.

One epidemiologist in Hong Kong said it may be too late to tighten travel curbs against the latest variant.

"Most likely this virus is already in other places. And so if we shut the door now, it's going to be probably too late," said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.

Belgium identified Europe's first case, adding to those in Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa recommended that travel be restricted from some African countries, but President Jair Bolsonaro appeared to dismiss such measures.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticised by public health experts for his management of the pandemic, railing against lockdowns and choosing not to get vaccinated. Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll from the virus, behind only the United States.

Discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.

Friday also marked the start of the holiday shopping period in the United States, when retailers offer discounts. This year, US shoppers found stores less crowded than in years past.

Realtor Kelsey Hupp, 36, was at the Macy's department store in downtown Chicago on Black Friday.

"Chicago is pretty safe and masked and vaccinated. I got my booster so I'm not too concerned about it," she said//CNA

Police officers stand guard following Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's announcement of new measures to fight a reco disease (COVID-19) infections, in The Hague, Netherlands, November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Eva Plevier - 

The Dutch government on Friday (Nov 26) ordered further restrictions including a nighttime closure of bars, restaurants and most stores to stem a record-breaking wave of COVID-19 cases that is threatening to overwhelm the country's healthcare system.

The surge in the Netherlands, the worst in Western Europe, came even though 85per cent of the adult population have been vaccinated, with infections now rising most quickly among schoolchildren, who are not vaccinated.

"The (infection) numbers per day are high, higher, highest," caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a televised press conference. "That means that we can't get there with just a few small adjustments."

The current wave of Dutch cases, running above 20,000 infections per day for the past week, has continued despite restrictions including the reintroduction of face masks and closure of bars and restaurants after 8 p.m. imposed by Rutte's government earlier this month.

Rutte said on Friday non-essential stores would be closed from 5pm to 5am, and masks would be required in secondary schools.

His government urged everyone who can to work from home, and if they cannot, to follow social distancing guidelines.

The new measures go into effect from Nov 28.

Some experts had argued that a short, near-total lockdown, including school closures, would be needed to push infections down.

Law enforcement officials were preparing for possible unrest after a demonstration in The Hague on Friday to protest against the new measures.

A government proposal - which is not yet policy - to bar unvaccinated people from public places prompted three nights of rioting last weekend.

Dutch hospitals were instructed on Friday to postpone all non-emergency operations to free up beds in intensive care units. Some patients have been transferred to neighbouring Germany//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A shopper, wearing a protective face masks, looks at a poster for a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination centre installed inside a supermarket in Brussels, Belgium, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Bart Biesemans - 

Belgium detected Europe's first confirmed case of the new variant of COVID-19 on Friday (Nov 26), and at the same time announced measures aimed at curbing a rapidly spreading fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke told a news conference that a case of variant B.1.1.529 had been found in an unvaccinated person who had developed symptoms and tested positive on Nov. 22.

"It is a suspicious variant. We do not know if it is a very dangerous variant," he said.

The new coronavirus variant, first detected in South Africa, has caused global alarm, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers seek to find out if the mutation is vaccine-resistant.

Belgium's national reference laboratory said the infected person was a young adult woman who had developed symptoms 11 days after returning from a trip to Egypt via Turkey. She had flu-like symptoms, but no signs to date of severe disease.

None of her household members developed symptoms, but were being tested.

The new variant has emerged as Belgium and many other European countries are battling a surge in coronavirus infections.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced that nightclubs would close and bars and restaurants would have to shut by 11pm for three weeks from Saturday, and have a maximum six people per table.

The strain on the health service was mounting, De Croo told a news conference, adding,"If we did not have such a high rate of vaccination today, we would be in an absolutely drastic situation".

A previous package of coronavirus restrictions imposed a week ago included enforcing wider use of masks and more working from home.

Under the new rules, private parties and gatherings are also banned, unless they are for weddings or funerals, and Belgians will have to do shopping on their own.

The country's health ministers will meet on Saturday to discuss accelerating the roll-out of vaccine booster doses.

Belgium, home to European Union institutions and the headquarters of NATO, has the sixth-highest number of cases per capita rate in Europe, behind the likes of Austria and Slovakia that have re-entered lockdowns.

The fatality rate though is just below the EU average, with 75 per cent of the population vaccinated against COVID-19//CNA