Live updates: Israeli death due to delta, not omicron

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli hospital says a man who was reported to have died from the omicron variant of the coronavirus was found to have the delta variant.

Israeli health officials reported the death earlier this week. It would have been the country’s first omicron casualty.

Soroka Hospital, located in the southern city of Beersheba said Thursday that final test results from the Israeli Health Ministry indicated the man was infected with delta.

Israel has identified 341 cases of omicron. It has greatly restricted air traffic in and out of the country and is imposing a series of public restrictions to prevent the spread of the highly contagious variant.

The Health Ministry director is also considering whether to administer a second booster shot to at-risk groups, following a recommendation by a medical advisory group.

Israel, a country of 9.3 million people, has reported over 8,200 COVID-19 deaths during the pandemic.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:

— Ever-morphing coronavirus requires holiday calculus for 2nd winter

— Omicron less likely to put you in the hospital, British studies say

— US Supreme Court to hold special session on worker vaccine requirements

Go to https://APNews.com/coronavirus-pandemic for updates throughout the day.

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING TODAY:

BEIJING — China is redoubling efforts to control new virus outbreaks with a lockdown of the 13 million residents of the northern city of Xi’an following a spike in coronavirus cases.

The measure comes just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics in Beijing, roughly 1,000 kilometers (6210 miles) to the west.

There was no word on whether the virus was the newly surging omicron variant or the far more common delta. China has recorded just seven omicron cases — four in the southern manufacturing center of Guangzhou, two in the southern city of Changsha and one in the northern port of Tianjin.

China has also been dealing with a substantial outbreak in several cities in the eastern province of Zhejiang near Shanghai, although isolation measures there have been more narrowly targeted.

Authorities have adopted strict pandemic control measures under their policy of seeking to drive new transmissions to zero, leading to frequent lockdowns, universal masking and mass testing. While the policy has not been entirely successful while leading to massive disruptions in travel and trade, Beijing credits it with largely containing the spread of the virus.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has set a new record for daily COVID-19 deaths as it struggles to resolve a shortage of hospital beds amid weeks of surging cases.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Thursday that 109 people died in the latest 24-hour period. That raised the country’s total number of pandemic fatalities to 5,015.

The agency reported 6,919 new coronavirus cases, the vast majority of them involving the delta variant.

Infections surged after South Korea significantly relaxed its pandemic restrictions in early November as part of its efforts to restore pre-pandemic normalcy. Alarmed by the spike, health authorities on Saturday restored the country’s toughest distancing rules such as a four-person cap on private gatherings and a 9 p.m. curfew for restaurants and cafes.

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SYDNEY — Australia is reporting a major spike in coronavirus infections a day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected lockdowns or mask mandates to slow the spread of the omicron variant.

The country’s most populous state, New South Wales, listed 5,715 new cases Thursday. That was up from 3,763 a day earlier and almost as many as were recorded across all of Australia on Wednesday.

There were 347 people in New South Wales hospitals, up from 302 the previous day, and 45 in intensive care units, up from 40.

Victoria state also saw a sharp increase, reporting 2,005 new infections Thursday.

Morrison on Wednesday convened a Cabinet meeting with leaders of Australia’s states and territories but ruled out lockdowns.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court says it will hold a special session to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for millions of workers, policies that affect large employers and health care workers.

The high court’s announcement that it will hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7, an extraordinarily fast timeline, comes amid rising coronavirus infections. The court had not been scheduled to hear cases again until Jan. 10.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 last week that the vaccine or testing regime for workers at larger companies could take effect. The plan, which was to take effect Jan. 4, requires workers at larger companies to be vaccinated or wear face masks and get tested weekly.

The high court also will hear arguments over a rule published Nov. 5 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid that applies to a wide range of health care providers that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funding. It requires their workers to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. I

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MONTREAL — Quebec’s premier says beginning the day after Christmas, gatherings inside homes will be limited to six people or two family bubbles.

Restaurants are already operating at half capacity and have to close at 10 p.m., and on Dec. 26 will also have to limit groups at tables to six people or two families.

Premier Francois Legault says the “exponential” increase in coronavirus infections over the past week is continuing. He says Quebec will report about 9,000 news cases for Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the French-speaking Canadian province abruptly closed bars, gyms and schools and warned that further restrictions could be coming while awaiting projections on the spread of the virus and its impact on hospitalizations.