Christmas and coronavirus

 It’s looking like chances that the holiday season would be different from last year are fading. Though booster vaccinations are still seen as a bulwark against serious illness from the latest mutation of the coronavirus, fears of an unprecedented wave continue to grow along with the global rate of infection, which now matches the height of the summer delta wave. The U.K., which has been overwhelmed by the new omicron strain, is seen as a harbinger of things to come everywhere else. On Thursday, France said it will ban tourists and almost all business travelers from Britain in a bid to slow the spread. The plan comes after the U.K. recorded its highest number of new cases since the beginning of the crisis. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella