Hello and welcome to Business Weekly.

I'm Matthew Davis and a very happy new year to you.

In the program today, we look at efforts being made in the textile industry to move away from fast fashion,

the mass-produced cheap clothing that's dominated high street retailers for so long.

Plus, it's 20 years since the schoolboy wizard Harry Potter first appeared on movie screens.

We take a look at the franchise's lasting legacy and what it means for Edinburgh,

the Scottish city that inspired some of the book's settings.

And if you indulged in a cocktail or two this past New Year's Eve, you wouldn't be alone.

Interest in exotic tipples has been growing steadily during the coronavirus pandemic.

But first, as we enter 2022, the pandemic is still very much with us.

Infection rates soared over the festive season

as the new Omicron variant of coronavirus spread rapidly across Europe and the United States.

Many businesses are now suffering from staff shortages.

In response, the health authorities in the United States

have half the recommended isolation

period for people who test positive for COVID but don't exhibit symptoms.

Spain, Italy and the UK have taken similar steps.

Rochelle Wilensky is the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S.

What we have learned during all this period of time is that early in the course of illness,

in the one to two days prior to the onset of symptoms and in the two to three days after the

prior onset of symptoms, is really when the vast majority of transmission occurs.

Of course, there is a bit of transmission that still can occur in those last

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