Covid: Time to consider mandatory vaccines - EU chief - BBC News
Not everyone can be vaccinated but "the vast majority could", says Ursula von der Leyen.
Cases jump in China’s Inner Mongolia, but no indication it’s Omicron

Ninety-one new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed today in China’s Inner Mongolia. Although by international standards, this number seems relatively small, it is a significant jump from the 21 cases recorded a day earlier, and the highest number of cases reported in China since 2 November. There have been 132 symptomatic cases confirmed in Inner Mongolia alone since Monday. Media say that it is believed this localised outbreak began as a result of exposure to the virus on imported goods. The majority of cases are in Manzhouli, a city that is close to the border with Mongolia and a major land port. At least nine communities have introduced lockdowns as a result of this outbreak , and city-wide testing drives are taking place to identify any asymptomatic carriers. There is no indication that this outbreak is linked to the Omicron variant. Senior health officials yesterday told media that no cases of the variant have been detected on China’s mainland. There have, however, been at least six confirmed cases of the Omicron variant at the opposite end of the country – in Hong Kong . These are all imported cases, and so arrivals were quarantined on arrival, meaning there is no local transmission.