Thousands of flights cancelled globally as Omicron mars holiday travel
Gulf Times
Travellers move through the departures hall at Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy International Airport yesterday in New York City. Thousands of travellers were left stranded across the country after multiple airlines cancelled Christmas Eve flights.
The number of Covid-19 cases shot up by almost a fifth across the world this week, as the pandemic picked up speed in most regions, with Europe bearing the brunt.France, Britain and Italy set new records for daily Covid cases. Commercial airlines around the world cancelled more than 4,000 flights over the Christmas weekend, as a mounting wave of Covid-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant created greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travellers.Airline carriers globally scrapped at least 2,314 flights yesterday, which fell on Christmas Eve and is typically a heavy day for air travel, according to a running tally on the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.The website showed that another 1,404 Christmas Day flights were called off worldwide, along with 340 more that had been scheduled for tomorrow.In Britain, many industries and transport networks were struggling with staff shortages as sick workers self-isolated, while hospitals have warned of the risk of an impact on patient safety.One in 20 Londoners had Covid-19 last week and that could have risen to 1 in 10 by the start of this week, according to statistics released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics.Britain recorded a record number of new coronavirus cases on Thursday as the Omicron variant swept across the country.France hit another Covid-19 infection record yesterday, with the daily figure getting close to 100,000, a trend that prompted the government to convene a special meeting on the pandemic on Monday which could trigger new restrictions on movement.Health authorities reported 94,124 new daily Covid-19 cases yesterday while the number of people hospitalised for the disease reached a seven-month high at close to 16,200, according to official data.Italy reported a second successive record daily tally of Covid-19 cases yesterday, with new cases hitting 50,599 against 44,595 a day earlier, the health ministry said.The number of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 141 from 168 on Thursday.In the United States, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both cancelled dozens of Christmas Eve flights because of staff shortages amid the surge in infections.Despite the grim news around the world, millions of Americans carried on with travel plans through a second pandemic-clouded holiday season and most US flights went ahead.New York will sharply limit the number of people it allows in Times Square for its New Year’s Eve celebration, in response to the surge of new coronavirus cases.
