Covid-19 has infected more than 274M people and killed over 5.3M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Sunday, December 19, 2021
EU to get 20 mn extra vaccine doses to fight Omicron
EU members will get an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first three months of 2022 to fight the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the European Commission has said.
The announcement on Sunday comes as Europe braces for a new Covid-19 wave, driven by the highly mutated and transmissible Omicron variant and fanned by socialising over the Christmas holidays.
Many countries are ramping up their vaccination drives and reimposing travel restrictions and other curbs to try to put a break on infections weeks after the variant was first detected in South Africa.
Member states will get an additional five million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab in January, five million in February and 10 million in March, the Commission said in a statement.
“These doses come on top of the already scheduled 195 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, bringing the total number of deliveries in the first quarter to 215 million.”
Full vaccination and boosters are “now even more urgent than ever” given the “expected rapid increase in infections due to the Omicron variant”.
The EU is due to receive 650 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech jabs in total in 2022.
Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain by mid January in the EU, where 67 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
Thousands in Brussels protest renewed restrictions
Thousands of peaceful protesters have demonstrated in Brussels for the third time against reinforced Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter a spike in infections as the omicron variant sweeps across Europe.
The marchers — some with placards reading “free zone,” “I’ve had my fair dose” and “enough is enough” — came to protest the government’s strong advice to get vaccinated. They also included Belgian health care workers who will have a three-month window in which to get vaccinated against the virus beginning January 1 or risk losing their jobs.
A strong police presence and widespread preventive controls were deployed for the march on Sunday, given how previous protests had descended into violence. But only 13 arrests were made for “rebellion and possession of prohibited articles,” according to police spokesperson Ilse Van de Keere.
The World Health Organization reported this weekend that the omicron variant has been detected in 89 countries, and variant cases are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission.
In a Brussels protest last month, several hundred people started pelting police, smashing cars and setting garbage bins ablaze.
Police responded with tear gas and water cannons.
UK Covid cases rise 52% in a week
The United Kingdom has reported 82,886 new cases and 45 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, government statistics showed.
Cases were up 51.9 percent over the seven days to December 19 compared with the previous week.
Sri Lanka requiring card for entry to public places
Sri Lanka will require the showing of a Covid-19 vaccination certificate compulsory for entry to public places starting from January 1, in a renewed attempt to prevent another spike in infections.
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has made the announcement in an abrupt switch from the gradual ending of restrictions put into place after the country was confronted with a third wave of infections in April caused by the Delta variant.
Ranatunga on Sunday said health officials were drawing up arrangements on implementing the decisions, according to a government statement.
Since Sri Lanka lifted a six-week lockdown on October 1, life has begun returning to normal, with the reopening of cinemas, restaurants and wedding parties. Restrictions put into place after the country was faced with a third wave of Covid-19 infections caused by the Delta variant in April have been gradually lifted.
However, police continue to enforce the wearing of face masks and maintenance of social distance in public places. Restrictions also remain on public transport and large-scale gatherings are discouraged.
Covid-19 cases surged in Sri Lanka in July and the country was placed under a conditional lockdown from August 20 to October 1.
At the peak, daily infections rose to more than 3,000 with 200 or more deaths. New daily infections have since fallen to around 500 and deaths to less than 20.
Since Sri Lanka’s first Covid-19 patient was detected in March 2020, the country has recorded 578,439 confirmed cases and 14,720 deaths from the virus.
US donates 1.78M jabs to support vaccination in Bangladesh
The US has donated 1.78 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to Bangladesh in an effort to help the South Asian country expand its immunisation drive to young people aged 12 and up, the US embassy in Dhaka announced.
“With this shipment, the American people have now donated a total of 18.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh,” the embassy said a statement, adding that the jabs had been sent via COVAX, an international facility to boost vaccine equity.
US support to vaccination in Bangladesh also includes the training of nearly 7,000 healthcare professionals to safely administer vaccines, as well as donations of cold-chain freezer trucks where the vaccines are stored, and the provision of freezers and other equipment for health facilities to “properly store and transport Covid-19 vaccines across the country,” it added.
“The United States will continue to donate millions more doses of Pfizer vaccines and stand together with Bangladesh in its aim to vaccinate 40 percent of the country’s eligible population by the end of this year,” US Ambassador Earl Robert Miller was quoted as saying in the statement.
The ongoing donations of Pfizer vaccines are part of a broader commitment by the US to lead the global Covid-19 response by providing 1 billion doses of the Pfizer vaccine around the world through 2022, it said.
Germany tightens travel restrictions on UK
Germany is tightening travel restrictions for people coming from Britain in response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant there.
The country’s national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, added Britain to its list of “virus variant areas” late Saturday.
This means anyone traveling from the UK to Germany must enter a mandatory quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status.
The new restrictions, which will go into effect at midnight Sunday, come as the UK reports a record high number of new coronavirus infections. On Saturday, the country saw 90,418 new cases.
The UK joins eight African countries, including South Africa, on Germany’s list of “virus variant areas.”
The Robert Koch Institute’s announcement comes in the wake of tightened restrictions for other countries across Europe as the continent faces a fourth wave of infections.
Starting Sunday, France and Denmark are considered “high risk areas,” meaning those who are not vaccinated or recovered from the virus must quarantine for 10 days.
Dozens of countries, including nearly all of Germany’s direct neighbors, have now been added to this category.
Italy eyes new measures amid Omicron worries
Italy’s government is considering new measures to avoid a surge in Covid infections during the holiday period, local newspapers reported, amid worries over the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
After holding a meeting with ministers on December 23, Prime Minister Mario Draghi could impose an obligation on the vaccinated to show a negative test to access crowded places, including discos and stadiums, daily Corriere della Sera reported.
Under current rules, people who have been vaccinated or have recently recovered from the disease have free access to indoor seating at bars and restaurants, museums, cinemas, clubs and sporting events.
Australia undaunted by mounting cases
Australian officials said there was no need to clamp down on Christmas festivities even as new infections climbed in Sydney, with the country’s high vaccination rate helping keep people out of hospital.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was confident Australia would not need to follow the Netherlands, which has reimposed a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to curb the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
“We’re going into summer, we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and a very different set of circumstances. So we don’t see that’s a likely situation in Australia,” Hunt told reporters in a televised media conference.
Russia reports 1,023 deaths
Russia has reported 1,023 deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is effective against the Omicron variant.
“By the way, as we can say from today’s perspective, our Sputnik V vaccine is doing a great job against the Omicron variant, maybe even better than other vaccines used worldwide. By the end of the week, our researchers will present a final assessment about it.”
CNN closes its offices due to Covid
One of the US’s biggest media corporations, Cable News Network (CNN), shut down its offices due to the spike in Covid-19 cases.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the media outlet took the decision for “nonessential employees” as Omicron cases are rapidly spreading across the country.
The cable network employees were allowed to work from the office on a voluntary basis before the cases began rising, WSJ said.
Germany puts UK on list of high-risk countries
Germany’s health authority announced that the UK had been added to its list of Covid high-risk countries, which will mean tighter travel restrictions.
The decision is a response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which forced London’s mayor Sadiq Khan to declare a “major incident” on Saturday in the UK capital.
The change, which takes effect on Sunday at midnight, means arrivals from the UK will have to observe a two-week quarantine regardless of whether they are vaccinated, said the country’s health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
Netherlands announces 4-week lockdown
The Netherlands announced a four-week lockdown starting Sunday amid concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Speaking at a news conference, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country will go into a lockdown until at least Jan. 14 in a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
All schools will remain closed until Jan. 9. No events will be allowed until the lockdown ends.
Places, where basic needs are provided, will be open between 05.00 a.m. and 08.00 p.m., while football games continue to be played without fans.
WHO: Omicron detected in 89 countries
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in 89 countries, and Covid-19 cases involving the variant are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission and not just infections acquired abroad, the World Health Organization.
Omicron’s “substantial growth advantage” over the Delta variant means it is likely to soon overtake delta as the dominant form of the virus in countries where the new variant is spreading locally, the UN health agency said.
WHO noted that Omicron is spreading rapidly even in countries with high vaccination rates or where a significant proportion of the population has recovered from Covid-19.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
EU set to get 20M extra vaccine doses to fight Omicron – latest updates
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