The Omicron variant carries 'concerning' mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- COVID is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 adds new uncertainties to the global economic outlook but much will depend on its speed of transmission, hospitalisation and death rates, and also the effectiveness of vaccines, Moody's Analytics said on Monday. In its commentary titled 'Much to Learn About Omicronast', Moody's Analytics said although the variant appears to spread "remarkably quickly", it will be at least two more weeks before more will be known about this new variant. "The Omicron variant of COVID-19 adds new measures of uncertainty to the outlook for the global economy, although it is too soon to adequately quantify that risk.

The presence of spike protein facilitates a virus' entry into the host cell and is responsible for making it transmissible and causing infection.

As a proactive step, the government has already placed nations, where this VoC has been found, in the category of 'at risk' countries for additional follow-up measures of international travellers coming into lndia from these destinations, he said in a letter dated November 27.

America's top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said that the new COVID-19 Omicron variant is in 'fluid motion' in South Africa and the US scientists are in 'very active' communication with their colleagues in that country to test the strain, get facts and find out whether or not it evades the antibodies.

The UK on Saturday detected two cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, according to health secretary Sajid Javid as he added four more African countries to Britain's travel red list.

Sri Lanka will ban entry to most travellers from six southern African countries from Sunday, after a potentially more contagious new coronavirus variant called Omicron was identified in South Africa earlier this week, healthcare authorities said in Colombo on Saturday.

The move came soon after Belgium confirmed a case of the B.1.1.529 variant in someone who had travelled back from Egypt earlier this month, with the European Union (EU) member states agreeing to a snap travel ban on seven African nations.

The WHO has countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database.

The UK's health authorities have confirmed that a new and "most significant" variant of COVID-19 is officially under investigation in the country as the government on Friday added six countries to its travel ban red list from southern Africa, where B.1.1.529 strain was first identified.

Images from action in the Europa League matches on Thursday.

Vice-captain Sanjay scored a brilliant hat-trick but it was not enough as defending champions India were stunned by unfancied France in their opening Pool B match of the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup, in Bhubaneswar, on Wednesday.

Star Indian paddler Manika Batra crashed out of the women's singles in the World Table Tennis Championships Finals after a first round defeat, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran advanced to the second round in the men's singles, in Houston, on Wednesday.

Mbappe and Benzema inspire France to 2-0 win against Finland

Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.

Barcelona sacked coach Ronald Koeman after Wednesday's 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Rayo Vallecano, the Catalan club said on Wednesday.

Barcelona sacked coach Ronald Koeman after Wednesday's 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Rayo Vallecano, the Catalan club said on Wednesday.

Foreign teams that will land in India for next month's FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar have been exempted from quarantine and will only be required to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms during the stay.

Napoli kept alive their hopes of advancing from Group C after Lorenzo Insigne, Victor Osimhen and Matteo Politano secured a 3-0 home win over Legia Warsaw.

'We see in England how many deaths there still are and people get the virus and are suffering. We have to move forward, stay safe, be careful, use the masks, use the vaccines for better for the society and for themselves.'

World champions France won the Nations League final with goals from Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe earning them a 2-1 win over Spain at the San Siro stadium on Sunday.

Round-up of World Cup qualifiers played on Friday

World champions France recovered from two goals down to beat Belgium 3-2 in a thrilling Nations League semi-final on Thursday with a last-minute strike from Theo Hernandez securing a place in Sunday's showpiece match against Spain.

India swept the International Hockey Federation's annual awards on Wednesday, claiming all the top honours, based on a voting system which was lambasted as a "failure" by men's Olympic champions Belgium, prompting the FIH to say that it would try to figure why some associations did not cast their ballot.

Spain ended European champions Italy's world record 37-match unbeaten run as Ferran Torres scored twice in a 2-1 win at the San Siro stadium in an entertaining Nations League semi-final on Wednesday.

Harmanpreet Singh won the men's Player of the Year award and Gurjit Kaur was recognised as the best player in the women's section. Veteran P R Sreejesh and Savita Punia won the best goalkeeper awards in the men's and women's section, while young striker Sharmila Devi (women) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (men) were adjudged best rising stars.

The tiny Central American nation of El Salvador has embarked on an interesting experiment by recognising bitcoin as legal tender. This is proving painful for many of its citizens but it's a useful "pilot" project for larger economies that are contemplating the peculiarities of this new asset class. El Salvador has a population of 6.5 million and GDP of about $27 billion.

France striker Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday fell short of saying he would leave Paris St Germain when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to biggest decrease in life expectancy since the World War II, and wiped out years of progress on mortality, according to a study published on Monday by the University of Oxford.

Australia on Friday pulled out of several upcoming FIH tournaments, including the junior men's hockey World Cup slated to be held in India later this year, citing COVID-19 related government travel restrictions.

Images from the World Cup qualifying matches played on Wednesday night.

George Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas and race for Mercedes next season in an all-British line-up with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One team said on Tuesday.

Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifying matches on Sunday night.

The medals tally at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Images from Day 4 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Thursday.

Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday without racing even a single lap as half-points were awarded for only the sixth time in Formula One history.

Barcelona were drawn in Group E with Bayern Munich, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv.

Periault and Duffy were running shoulder to shoulder but the Frenchwoman pulled away from the Bermudan on the third lap of the run.

The winner will be named on August 26, along with UEFA's women's player of the year and Champions League positional award winners, at the Champions League group stage draw in Istanbul.