The United Kingdom has been shut off from much of Europe after its closest allies cut transport ties due to fears about a new strain of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Thailand has seen its worst outbreak of the coronavirus yet after hundreds of cases were traced to the country’s biggest seafood market.
A lockdown has been imposed in and around Samut Sakhon, a province near the capital Bangkok, as up to 40,000 people will be tested, health officials have said.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia has suspended all international passenger flights for one week following news of a new strain of the coronavirus, state media reported.
There have been more than 76.7 million cases of the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.69 million deaths.
Here are the latest updates:
UK working with other nations to reduce travel disruption: PM’s spokesman
The UK is working closely with other countries to minimise transport disruption, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman has said, after several nations banned travellers and freight from UK from arriving in their countries.
“We are working closely with our international partners and are working urgently to minimise the disruption,” the spokesman told reporters.
Asked whether the government believed a French travel ban was partly motivated by Brexit, the spokesman said: “As has been the case throughout the pandemic, there have been different travel restrictions imposed around the world.”
US health official says ‘everything on table’ about possible UK travel ban
US Assistant Health Secretary Brett Giroir has said that it was possible the US would ban travel from the UK as a new variant of the deadly coronavirus spreads in the country, but added nothing had been decided yet.
“I think everything is possible. We just need to put everything on the table, have an open scientific discussion and make the best recommendation,” he said in an interview on CNN, adding the White House coronavirus task force will meet later on Monday.
Hello, this is Mersiha Gadzo in Toronto, Canada taking over the live updates from my colleague Linah Alsaafin.
Australia confirms two cases of new coronavirus strain
Australia confirmed it has detected two cases of the new coronavirus strain that has forced Britain to reverse plans to ease curbs over Christmas, the first confirmed cases of the strain in the Asia-Pacific region.
Australia’s most populous state on Sunday reported six new cases of the novel coronavirus in people returning from overseas and in quarantine, and authorities said among them were two cases of the fast-spreading new strain.
However, New South Wales officials stressed that no people infected with the new strain were believed to be circulating in the community.
“We’ve had a couple of UK returned travellers with the particular mutations,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant told reporters.
Russia reports record jump in new virus cases
Russia has reported a new record increase in coronavirus infections, as some experts said the pandemic had hit the country harder than government statistics suggest.
Health officials reported 493 new virus deaths and 29,350 cases, bringing total infections to 2,877,727 – the fourth highest in the world.
Total fatalities stood at 51, 351.
Moscow and the second city of Saint Petersburg were the hardest hit, recording 7,797 and 3,752 new cases.
Myanmar’s biggest city closes parks to keep lid on coronavirus
Myanmar has closed off public gardens, parks and a lake in its biggest city Yangon, hoping to prevent a spike in coronavirus cases during year-end holidays.
City officials trying to protect recent gains in containing COVID-19 infections put up barricades, signs and cordons around the Mahabandula park and along the banks of the Inya lake, among other popular sites known for drawing holiday crowds.
The closures come amid fears that fatigue and frustration from the coronavirus crisis and containment measures could see a larger turnout than usual this year.
“We have seen some people do some extreme celebrations at New Year. And we think the crowd would get bigger for celebrations this year,” city administrator Myo Kyi said.
EU agreed to pay 15.5 euros per dose for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
The European Union has agreed to pay 15.5 euros ($18.90) per dose for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, an internal EU document reviewed by Reuters showed.
The price, which is confidential and was negotiated for a total of 300 million doses, is slightly lower than the $19.50 per shot the United States agreed to pay for a first shipment of 100 million doses of the same vaccine, in line with what Reuters reported in November.
The EU document dated November 18 was circulated internally after the EU announced its supply deal with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on November 11
India suspends flights from UK until Dec 31
India said it was joining other countries in temporarily suspending all flights from Britain after the emergence of a new and more infectious strain of coronavirus there.
“Considering the prevailing situation in UK. Govt. of India has decided that all flights originating from UK to India to be suspended till 31st December 2020,” the aviation ministry said in a tweet.
It said the suspension would come into effect from 11:59 pm (0629 GMT) on Tuesday.
It added that in a “measure of abundant precaution”, passengers arriving from Britain on transit flights would be subject to a mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival.
Interpol expects ‘dramatic’ jump in crime over vaccine shipments
Interpol chief Juergen Stock has predicted a sharp rise in crimes with robbers seeking to get their hands on precious vaccines aimed at stopping the coronavirus pandemic.
“With vaccines rolling out, crime will increase dramatically,” Stock told business weekly WirtschaftsWoche. “We will see thefts and warehouse break-ins and attacks on vaccine shipments.”
France to start COVID-19 vaccinations next week
France will start its COVID-19 vaccination programme next week on Sunday, Health Minister Olivier Veran wrote on his Twitter feed.
Veran added that the French vaccination programme would start off with the most vulnerable members of the population, such as the elderly.
Europe’s medicines regulator will on Monday assess the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by US company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, with a green light to put Europe on course to start inoculations within a week.
US President-elect Biden to receive vaccine
President-elect Joe Biden will receive his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe.
Monday’s event will come the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, will start arriving in states, joining Pfizer’s in the nation’s arsenal against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 317,000 people in the United States and upended life around the globe.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take,” Biden has said of his decision.
Philippines to get 30 million doses of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine
The Philippines expects to receive 30 million doses of Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine by July next year, boosting the country’s effort to secure supplies to inoculate more than 100 million people.
Despite consultations with numerous vaccine makers, the Philippines has so far signed only one supply deal, with the help of its private sector, to acquire 2.6 million shots of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.
It plans to buy 25 million doses of a vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech for delivery by March and aims to secure between four and 25 million doses of vaccines from Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc.
Countries that have blocked travel from UK
The list of countries stopping flights from Britain continued to grow on as alarmed officials reacted to a new, highly contagious variant of the coronavirus that has sent London and southeastern England into lockdown.
Here are the countries that have banned flights from the UK:
From Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Poland.
From Latin America: El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru.
From the Middle East: Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Kuwait, Morocco.
From North America: Canada.
New COVID strain in the UK: What we know in 500 words
In recent days, concerns have grown over a new strain identified in the United Kingdom.
The new variant, which has been named VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in the country’s southeast, in the capital London or the county of Kent.
Vaccines should still be effective against it and the new strain is not believed to be any more deadly, but people are increasingly worried because this mutation appears to be 70 percent more infectious.
Read more here.
Thousands tested in Thailand after virus outbreak in seafood market
Thailand has confirmed 382 new coronavirus infections with the majority of cases linked to a seafood centre outbreak in a province near the capital, the health ministry said.
Tens of thousands of people are being tested after hundreds of cases linked to the Mahachai seafood market in Thailand’s worst outbreak yet.
The new cases in the southwestern province of Samut Sakhon include 360 migrant workers, most of them from neighbouring Myanmar.
Seoul to ban gatherings of five people or more
South Korea’s capital Seoul and surrounding areas will ban most gatherings of five people or more later this week in an attempt to reduce coronavirus cases over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
South Korea recorded its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus, health authorities said on Monday, as a surge in infections strained the health system and prompted police raids on venues suspected of violating physical distancing rules
COVID-19 patient who fled from Hong Kong hospital is caught
A 63-year-old coronavirus patient who ran away from Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital isolation ward on December 18 has been found and returned by police.
The patient was escorted back to the hospital and is reportedly in a stable condition.
Hospital wards have enhanced patient management and surveillance, enhancing security on the floors with isolation wards and deploying extra patrols.
Saudi Arabia halts all international flights
Saudi Arabia said it was halting all flights and suspending entry through its land and sea ports for at least a week, with the option to extend for a further week.
Passengers who arrived in Saudi Arabia from Europe – or any country where the new strain was detected – starting December 8 will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks and undergo testing.
Foreign flights currently inside the kingdom are allowed to depart.
