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WHY EXPERTS SAY IT IS NOT TIME TO BE COMPLACENT ABOUT OMICRON:

YOU COULD STILL BECOME VERY ILL

Research has indicated that Omicron may be more likely to lead to an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 than prior variants. For those who do have symptoms, a higher proportion experience very mild illness, such as sore throat or runny nose, without the breathing difficulties typical of earlier infections.

But the extraordinary spread of Omicron in many countries means that in absolute numbers, more people will experience severe disease. In particular, recent data from Italy and Germany show that people who are not vaccinated are far more vulnerable when it comes to hospitalisation, intensive care and death.

"I agree that sooner or later everyone will be exposed, but later is better," said virus expert Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University.

"Why? Because later we will have better and more available medicines and better vaccines."

YOU COULD INFECT OTHERS

You might become only mildly ill, but you could pass the virus to someone else at risk of critical illness, even if you have antibodies from a prior infection or from vaccination, said Akiko Iwasaki, who studies viral immunology at Yale University.

OMICRON'S LONG-TERM EFFECTS ARE UNKNOWN

Infections with earlier variants of the coronavirus, including mild infections and "breakthrough" cases after vaccination, sometimes caused the lingering, debilitating long-haul COVID syndrome.

"We have no data yet on what proportion of infections with Omicron ... end up with Long COVID," Iwasaki said.

"People who underestimate Omicron as 'mild' are putting themselves at risk of debilitating disease that can linger for months or years."

Also unclear is whether Omicron will have any of the "silent" effects seen with earlier variants, such as self-attacking antibodies, sperm impairments and changes in insulin-producing cells

MEDICATIONS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY

Omicron treatments are so limited that doctors must ration them. Two of the three antibody drugs used during past COVID-19 waves are ineffective against this variant.

The third, sotrovimab, from GlaxoSmithKline, is in short supply , as is a new oral antiviral treatment called Paxlovid , from Pfizer Inc, that appears effective against Omicron. If you get sick, you might not have access to treatments.

HOSPITALS ARE FILLING UP

In fully vaccinated and boosted individuals without underlying medical conditions, Omicron "will not do too much damage," said David Ho, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University.

Still, the fewer infections, the better, especially now, "when the hospitals are already overwhelmed, and the peak of Omicron wave is yet to come" for most of the United States, Ho said.

MORE INFECTIONS MEAN MORE NEW VARIANTS

Omicron is the fifth highly significant variant of the original SARS-COV-2, and it remains to be seen if the ability of the virus to mutate further will slow down.

High infection rates also give the virus more opportunities to mutate, and there's no guarantee that a new version of coronavirus would be more benign than its predecessors.

"SARS-CoV-2 has surprised us in many different ways over the past two years, and we have no way of predicting the evolutionary trajectory of this virus," Ho said.

© RAW 2022

NSW residents have rushed to post positive results from rapid antigen tests since the start of the year, as the state government admits it will be "almost impossible" to apply fines for non-compliance.

By early Thursday around 82,000 positive RAT results from tests taken since January 1 had been uploaded, Customer Service and Digital Minister Victor Dominello told Seven Network.

This is a jump of about 29,000 from the 53,000 results posted by Wednesday afternoon.

The reporting system for positive RAT results went live on Wednesday morning and while the requirement only became mandatory on the day, NSW residents have been asked to add tests taken since the start of the year.

From January 19, the government will begin imposing a $1000 fine on anyone who does not report their positive RAT result.

Mr Dominello admits that will be very difficult to do but the government had to send a message that reporting a positive result was important.

"It's almost going to be impossible in many ways to enforce," he told Nine Network.

"But the majority of the states and territories in the country have gone down the path of issuing a fine or putting a fine in place - Tasmania, South Australia, Northern Territory, ACT - and some have chosen the other path of just saying please do it."

Mr Dominello said registering a test result on the Service NSW app or website was mainly about connecting infected people with any health care need they might need or federal government financial assistance.

The number of COVID-19 cases in NSW is expected to spike as the government begins adding RAT results to standard PCR test results.

NSW Health will provide an update on infection numbers at 9am on Thursday.

Prior to the RAT reporting regime, the state opposition had warned authorities were "flying blind" without an accurate picture of the spread of the virus in the community.

But actually finding a RAT remains a challenge for many, until more supply gets into the system.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns says the lack of tests reflects the government's failure to plan and is hurting the health system as well as the economy.

"Many provisions that have been put in place over the last week require people to have access to rapid antigen tests to prove whether they can work or not, whether they should be allowed out of close contact provisions regulations or not," he said.

Premier Dominic Perrottet says the government is considering a voucher-style system to distribute the tests.

Meanwhile, amendments to public health orders came into effect on Wednesday clarifying that people who have already tested positive for COVID-19 and completed their self-isolation period do not need to isolate again if they are a close or household contact of a positive case, if it's within four weeks of their isolation period.

More than 29,000 NSW primary school-aged children - or about four per cent - had received their first dose of a vaccine by Tuesday, and on Wednesday the premier committed again to having children in classrooms on the first day of term.

© AAP 2022

High fashion drama House of Gucci has led the nominations for Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild Awards, scoring nods for the top prize of best cast and for the performances of stars Lady Gaga and Jared Leto.

The awards, voted on by members of the SAG-AFTRA acting union, are closely watched as indicators of which movies will fare well at the Oscars ceremony in March.

Actors form the largest group that will vote for the Academy Awards.

Dark Western The Power of the Dog also received three SAG nominations for actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

But it was shut out of the contenders vying for best cast, as was Steven Spielberg's critically acclaimed remake of musical West Side Story.

The films that will challenge Gucci for best movie cast are Belfast about a family living amid conflict in late 1960s Northern Ireland; deaf community story CODA; King Richard about the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams; and Don't Look Up, a comedy that is an allegory about climate change.

In Gucci, Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, an ambitious outsider who married into the family only to have her former spouse, played by Adam Driver, killed off.

Leto portrays misunderstood designer Paolo Gucci.

Other film acting nominees included Ben Affleck for his turn as a caring uncle in The Tender Bar, Will Smith for the title role in King Richard and Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem for their portrayals of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos.

West Side Story received one nomination for supporting actress Ariana DeBose.

The SAG Awards are scheduled to be handed out at a live televised ceremony on February 27, one month ahead of the Oscars.

Netflix Inc scored the most SAG movie nominations of any film studio, with seven in total, while HBO and HBO Max topped the television field with 14 nods.

The television nominations included five each for cutthroat corporate family drama Succession and feel-good fish-out-of-water comedy Ted Lasso.

South Korean dark drama Squid Game landed four nominations.

© RAW 2022