Live news on Coronavirus: Biden to reinstate travel ban to Covid as the world approaches 100 million cases | World News

Experts asked for more clarity on monitoring in place to assess the 12-week dosing interval for Covid vaccines as the UK’s vaccination program expands.

According to government data released on Sunday, a total of 6,353,321 people in the UK received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. Other vaccination centers are due to open on Monday to speed up delivery of the jabs.

This includes the Crick Institute in London, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Lancaster City Hall, Bath Race Track and the Black Country Living Museum, where scenes for the Peaky Blinders TV show were filmed.

“These 33 new major vaccine centers will reinforce our existing network and allow the NHS to protect as many people as possible in the coming weeks,” said vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi.

However, there is still controversy over the government’s decision to increase the interval between the two doses of jabs by up to 12 weeks, in an effort to offer protection to as many people as possible.

Report by Nicola Davis and Jessica Elgot of the Guardian:

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 99 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the total moves quickly to 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

The current total is 99,105,389 infections. At least 2,127,206 people died.

On average, about 650,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported daily in the past week.

Israel on Sunday announced a one-week ban on most inbound and outbound flights in an attempt to slow the spread of new variants of the coronavirus, AFP reports.

The measure will begin at midnight Monday through Tuesday and will remain in effect until Sunday, said a statement from the prime minister’s office.

Exceptions will be made for cargo flights and firefighters, as well as trips for medical treatments, funerals and legal procedures.

A panel of officials from the Ministry of Health and Interior could issue exemptions on request “for humanitarian or personal needs,” the statement said.

The decision came with the country in its third national coronavirus blockade, initiated in late December and extended on Tuesday until the end of the month due to an increase in the number of deaths.

The previous Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government’s intention to close the airport, as variants of the coronavirus were detected in increasing numbers.

“We are closing the skies tightly, except on rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of mutations in the virus and to ensure rapid progress in our vaccination campaign,” he said before a cabinet meeting.

US President Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate Covid’s travel restrictions for non-American travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two officials of the White House.

AP: Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the shortlist because of concerns over a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that country.

Biden is reversing an order from President Donald Trump in his final days in office that called for relaxation of travel restrictions starting Tuesday.

The decision to reverse the order is not surprising, but the inclusion of South Africa in the restricted travel list highlights the new government’s concern about mutations in the virus.

The South Africa variant was not discovered in the United States, but another variant – originally from the United Kingdom – has been detected in several states.
Reuters was the first to report Biden’s decision to add South Africa to the list.

Biden last week issued an executive order instructing federal agencies to require international travelers to be quarantined after arriving in the U.S. The order also requires that all passengers bound for the USA aged 2 years and older must obtain negative test results three days before traveling.

Hello, welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 99 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the total moves quickly to 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

In the U.S., President Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate travel restrictions for non-American travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials. .

The authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the shortlist because of concerns over a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that country.

Here are the other important developments from the past few hours:

• Israel must ban passenger flights in an attempt to prevent imports of Covid variants, taking effect from 10:00 pm on Monday for two weeks
• Greek health officials reported a jump in the number of cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in the UK, with 32 infections detected.
• The UK reported an additional 30,004 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases, according to government data. This compares with 38,598 cases recorded last Sunday.
• Jeremy Hunt, the former UK health secretary, echoed the pleas of epidemiologists calling for the use of medical-grade masks to be mandatory on public transport and in stores.
• Serbia has detected its first case of the UK coronavirus variant, on a woman who traveled from London, but no further blockades are planned in the country, said President Aleksandar Vučić.
• Airbus announced that about 500 employees were quarantined after an outbreak at its aircraft factory in Hamburg where 21 workers tested positive, according to Reuters.
• Police used water cannons and dogs against protesters after hundreds gathered in a square in central Amsterdam on Sunday to protest against a new coronavirus curfew.
• France probably needs to enter a third block because of the spread of new variants of the coronavirus in the country, said the government’s top medical advisor on Covid-19 policy.
• Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will call Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday to discuss Mexico’s acquisition of the Sputnik V vaccine, the Mexican government said on Sunday.
• France reported 18,436 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, 23,924 on Saturday. However, the number today is higher than last Sunday, when 16,642 infections were registered.
• Ecuador approved the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccineand, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.