- EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said that Astrazeneca Plc will deliver an additional 9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the first quarter, making a total of 40 million doses for Europe.
- World Health Organization experts visited the market in Wuhan, central China, linked to the first known COVID-19 cluster, looking for clues to the onset of the coronavirus outbreak as several nations tightened restrictions further in an attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic virus.
- France closed its borders to non-European countries, except for essential travel, the day after Germany banned most travelers from countries affected by new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus.
- Globally, more than two million people died from the virus, with almost 102 million registered cases and 56 million recoveries.
Below are the most recent updates:
Variant of the South African virus detected in Greece
Greek authorities confirmed the first detection of the South African variant of the new coronavirus in the country, which prompted top health officials to fly to the area where it was found for meetings.
The minister who leads the government’s response to the pandemic and the head of the country’s public health agency met with doctors and the local bishop in the northern city of Thessaloniki. The variant is believed to be more contagious than the original type and was detected in a 36-year-old deacon in a suburb of the city.
“We will run tests to isolate people who have been in contact with the patient,” said Panayiotis Arkoumaneas, head of the National Public Health Organization.
Captain Tom, from Britain’s centennial fund-raiser, at the hospital with COVID
British centenary captain Tom Moore, who raised millions of pounds for health care by walking around his garden at the end of last year, was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, his daughter said.
The World War II veteran caught the public’s eye in April, just before his 100th birthday, when he was filmed circling with the help of a walker around his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, north of London.
He expected to raise 1,000 pounds. Instead, he raised more than 30 million (US $ 41 million) for the National Health Service, broke two Guinness world records, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, obtained the number 1 bachelor, wrote an autobiography and helped create a charity.
British centenary Captain Tom Moore was admitted to the hospital after a positive test for COVID-19 [Dylan Martinez/Reuters]
German health minister open to vaccine use from Russia and China
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he is open to using coronavirus vaccines from Russia or China in Germany, as a debate over vaccine availability is rife in Europe.
“If a vaccine is safe and effective, regardless of the country in which it was produced, then, of course, it can help fight the pandemic,”
Spahn told the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The vaccine would have to go through the normal authorization process.
Republicans call on Biden to reduce $ 1.9 trillion reduction in COVID relief
Ten Republicans in the United States Senate offered a counter-proposal to President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, saying that a scaled-down version of the aid package would gain bipartisan support in Congress.
In a letter on Sunday, Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney and others said their version of the bill would include $ 160 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment, among other things.
Read more here.
President Joe Biden gave a robust response to the central coronavirus in his campaign [File: Matt Rourke/The Associated Press]
Italy reports 237 deaths from coronavirus
Italy reported 237 coronavirus-related deaths, compared to 421 the previous day, the ministry of health said, while the daily count of new infections was 11,252 compared to 12,715 on Saturday.
About 213,364 tests for COVID-19 were carried out the previous day, against 298,010 earlier, the ministry of health said.
European capitals hit by anti-COVID repress protests
Protesters angry at the coronavirus restrictions organized demonstrations in several European cities, days after the Netherlands was rocked by curfew disturbances.
Read more here.
A person wearing a face mask attends a demonstration against measures of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Budapest [Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]
Canada will quarantine incoming travelers
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new and probably more contagious variants of the new coronavirus – including making it mandatory for travelers to be quarantined in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspend air service. to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations by April 30.
Trudeau said on Friday that in addition to the pre-boarding test that Canada already requires, the government will introduce mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.
Read more here.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the country will require tests for anyone arriving in the country [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]
São Paulo states that ingredients for 8.6 million doses of vaccine will arrive on Wednesday
The state of São Paulo expects to receive ingredients from Sinovac Biotech Ltd on Wednesday that will allow the local production of 8.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the state government said.
The ingredients are at the airport in Beijing, China, awaiting discharge and will be used by the Butantan Institute, in São Paulo, which has a partnership with Sinovac to produce the vaccines in Brazil.
Oman extends land border closure by one week due to pandemic
Oman will extend the closure of its land borders for another week, until February 8, to contain the spread of the coronavirus, state TV said, citing a decision by the Gulf state emergency coronavirus committee.
The borders were closed on January 19 because of concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus, a measure that was extended last week.
Israel sends 5,000 vaccines to Palestinians
Israel said it would send 5,000 coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority to inoculate medical staff, after global pressure to ensure that Palestinians are vaccinated.
Israeli officials launched an aggressive campaign to vaccinate their own citizens, but vaccines were not made available to Palestinians in the West Bank.
Thousands protest in Vienna as far-right march against COVID measures banned
Thousands of protesters met the police in shock suits in Vienna, at the site of a banned far-right demonstration against restrictions on the coronavirus.
Vienna police have banned several protests planned for this weekend, including one from the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, on the grounds that protesters generally do not abide by the rules of social detachment and often do not wear masks.
Since December 26, Austria is in its third national blockade, with non-essential stores and many other companies closed and its staff unable to work.
The virus appears in Portugal ‘like a tsunami’
Germany’s Ministry of Defense said it would send medical assistance to Portugal, which on Saturday reported that only seven of the 850 ICU beds created for cases of COVID-19 on its continent were vacant.
It happened after the Portuguese government asked Berlin for help.
“The situation is only comparable to a tsunami in the sense of the number of infections that we have seen growing for weeks,” Ricardo Baptista Leite, from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, told Al Jazeera.
“We saw this happening now for [three] months and…. only last friday we started to see a slowdown in the increase in new cases … after the closing of schools and a more rigid block imposed two weeks before. “
In total, Portugal registered 711,018 confirmed infections and 12,179 related deaths.
Portugal registered 711,018 confirmed infections [Duarte Sa/Reuters]
China sees increase in cases
China recorded more than 2,000 new domestic cases of COVID-19 in January, the highest monthly total since the end of the initial outbreak in Wuhan in March last year.
The National Health Commission said 2,016 cases were reported in January, a figure that does not include 435 other infected people who arrived from abroad. Two people died this month, the first COVID-related deaths reported in China in several months.
Most of the new cases occurred in three northern provinces, including more than 900 infections in Hubei province, the most affected. In the capital, Beijing, 45 cases were reported this month.
Thousands break the virus restrictions at Israel’s funeral
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews challenged Israel’s coronavirus restrictions to attend a rabbi’s funeral, prompting Defense Minister Benny Gantz to demand an end to repeated community blocking rules violations.
A huge crowd, many without masks, filled the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, 99, head of the influential yeshiva Brisk, or religious educational institute.
Egypt ‘receives’ first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines
Egypt received its first shipment of vaccines against coronavirus developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, according to airport officials.
The shipment of 50,000 doses arrived at Cairo International Airport on a flight from Dubai, said the authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to inform the media.
Mohammed Awad Tag el-Din, Egypt’s presidential health advisor, said the shipment came from the company’s factory in India.
Italy will relax COVID brakes in many regions
The Italian government said it would ease restrictions on coronavirus in much of the country starting on Monday, despite warnings from health experts that the move was risky due to concerns over the spread of more contagious variants.
After reviewing the latest data from COVID-19, the health ministry said it was moving 11 regions from so-called orange zones to so-called yellow zones, giving residents there more freedom to travel and allowing bars and restaurants to reopen during the day. .
In all, 16 regions will be in the yellow zone with the lowest risk and only four regions – Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Umbria – in the orange zone, along with the province of Bolzano in the north. Nowhere in Italy will it be classified as a red zone, which entails severe restrictions on travel and business.
Hello, welcome to Al Jazeera’s ongoing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Elizabeth Melimopoulos in Doha, Qatar.