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Following the instance of the Netherlands, the place a ban on all UK passenger flights got here into impact on Sunday, a German authorities supply mentioned Berlin, too, was contemplating an analogous transfer as “a serious option” for flights from each Britain and South Africa.
The Dutch ban got here into impact from 6:00 am (0500 GMT) and can final till January 1. And neighbouring Belgium additionally mentioned it was suspending flight and practice arrivals from Britain from midnight.
The strikes come as round a 3rd of England’s inhabitants entered a Christmas lockdown and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of virus was “out of control”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had mentioned the day earlier than that hundreds of thousands of Britons must cancel their Christmas plans and keep residence as a result of the new strain was spreading much more shortly.
Speaking on Sky News, Hancock mentioned the scenario was “deadly serious.”
“It’s going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out,” he mentioned.
It appears that scientists first found the new variant in a affected person in September.
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England informed Sky News that the company notified the federal government on Friday when modelling revealed the complete seriousness of the new strain.
She confirmed a determine given by Johnson that the new virus strain might be 70 p.c extra transmissible.
Last week, Europe has develop into the primary area on this planet to cross 500,000 deaths from Covid-19 for the reason that pandemic broke out a 12 months in the past, killing greater than 1.6 million worldwide and pitching the worldwide economic system into turmoil. Countries are shutting down their economies once more in a bid to rein within the virus.
The Netherlands is beneath a 5-week lockdown till mid-January with faculties and all non-important retailers closed to sluggish a surge within the virus.
Italy additionally introduced a new regime of restrictions till January 6 that included limits on individuals leaving their houses greater than as soon as a day, closing non-important retailers, bars and eating places and curbs on regional journey.
More than 50,000 deaths in Russia
In Russia, well being authorities mentioned that the quantity of individuals who have died from the coronavirus has surpassed the 50,000 mark and now stands at 50,858.
But some consultants imagine that the actual quantity might be a lot increased, with one former demographer at Russia’s state statistics company, Alexei Raksha, placing it as excessive as 250,000.
Raksha, who left Rosstat in July, informed AFP that the Russian well being ministry and the buyer well being company “downplay and falsify” the statistics.
A 12 months after the pandemic first emerged within the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, the fast rollout of vaccinations is now seen as the one efficient technique to finish the disaster and the economically devastating lockdowns used to halt its unfold.
Europe is anticipated to start out an enormous vaccination marketing campaign after Christmas following the United States and Britain, which have begun giving jabs with an permitted Pfizer-BioNTech shot, one of a number of main candidates.
Russia and China have additionally began giving out jabs with their very own domestically produced vaccines.
The United States on Friday authorised Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, paving the way in which for hundreds of thousands of doses of a second jab to be shipped throughout the toughest-hit country on this planet.
It is the primary nation to authorise the 2-dose routine from Moderna, now the second vaccine to be deployed in a Western country after the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The head of Asia’s largest drugmaker Takeda mentioned that pharmaceutical corporations have to be “very transparent” in regards to the dangers and advantages of vaccines.
“We have to manage the situation well, be very transparent and extremely educative in the way we introduce products,” Takeda chief government Christophe Weber informed AFP in an interview.
Takeda, one of the world’s greatest pharmaceutical corporations, is just not creating its personal vaccine however has contracts with a number of corporations to distribute their jabs in Japan and can also be testing a virus remedy.
“Medicines or vaccines are never perfect… there are always some side effects,” Weber mentioned.
US virus stimulus deal
The Wall Street Journal reported that US lawmakers had agreed on pandemic spending powers for the Federal Reserve late Saturday, clearing the way in which for a vote on a roughly $900-billion Covid-19 reduction package deal for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The deal would preserve the central financial institution’s capacity to arrange emergency lending programmes with out congressional approval, the Journal mentioned, however the Fed would require approval to restart present CARES Act programmes as soon as they expire on the finish of this 12 months.
In the sports activities world, Cricket Australia mentioned Sunday they have been urgent forward with plans to the maintain the third Test towards India in Sydney regardless of a rising coronavirus outbreak within the metropolis.
The Test is due be held from January 7 and CA interim chief Nick Hockley mentioned they have been watching the scenario carefully, with contingency plans in place.
(This story has not been edited by Newslivenation employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)