29 December,2021 09:13 AM IST | New York | Agencies
Travellers wait in line at the TSA security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport in Imperial, Pennsylvania on Monday. Pic/AP
Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel, stretched into Monday as airlines called off more than 1,000 U.S. flights because crews were sick with COVID-19 during one of the year's busiest travel periods, and storm fronts added to the havoc.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been common this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and carriers have struggled to make up ground this year, when air travel rebounded faster than almost anyone had expected. The arrival of the omicron variant only exacerbated the problem.
"During the pandemic, we have seen experienced airline personnel leave the industry and not return across the globe," said John Grant, senior analyst at travel industry research firm OAG. "Filling those skill gaps was already a challenge in the recovery before the latest variant."
But airlines' staffing levels are "irrelevant" when omicron is thrown into the mix, said Atmosphere Research Group travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt. "We can't blame the issues we're seeing now on airlines not having enough employees to work. What we're seeing happen is the employees who were available to work have come down with COVID." Since Friday, more than 4,000 flights to, from or inside the US were cancelled, according to FlightAware, which tracks the cancellations.
Delta, United, JetBlue and American have blamed the virus for staffing problems in the past several days. European and Australian airlines also canceled holiday-season flights because of infected staff, but weather and other factors played a role as well. Winter weather in the Pacific Northwest led to nearly 250 flight cancellations to or from Seattle on Sunday, as per Alaska Airlines. Industry analysts said new guidance from US health officials could help airlines better navigate impact of omicron on staffing levels.
Germany's highest court ruled Tuesday that officials must draw up rules to protect disabled people if hospitals end up having to triage (decide the order of treatment of patients) patients in the pandemic. The Federal Constitutional Court said the parliament violated a clause in the constitution stating that no one can be discriminated against because of a disability, and ordered it to rectify the situation "without delay." The court's ruling came after complaints lfrom people with serious disabilities, who worried that doctors could give up on them if there weren't enough hospital beds.
The French government announced new measures on Monday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Starting next week, big events will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors. People will have to sit down during concerts and won't be allowed to stand up in bars, PM Jean Castex said. Eating and drinking will be banned in cinemas, theaters, sport facilities and public transportation. Working from home will be mandatory three days per week.
The Chinese city of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province has registered 175 confirmed cases in a single day, the highest daily increase since the outbreak earlier this month state media tabloid Global Times reported. This is for the third consecutive day the city has reported over 100 cases. Among 175 cases is a six-month-old infant, the youngest in these outbreaks in the country.
4,00,488
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
27,91,14,972
Total no. of cases worldwide
53,97,580
Total no. of deaths worldwide
Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins
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