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PARIS – The European Union prepared to launch a vaccine on Saturday, even as the bloc countries were forced back into lockdown by a new strain of the virus, believed to be more infectious, which has spread from Britain to France and Spain and even like Japan.
The pandemic has claimed more than 1.7 million lives and is still rampant in much of the world, but the recent launch of vaccination campaigns has raised hopes that 2021 could bring a respite.
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The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Italy, Spain and France on Saturday morning, ready for distribution to elderly care facilities and hospital staff.
“We will regain our freedom, we will be able to hug each other again,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said, urging Italians to empty out.
Vaccines in the 27 countries of the European Union will begin Sunday, after regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 21.
Several countries, including France, Spain, Japan, Denmark, Lebanon, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, have reported cases of the new strain, which has caused jitters in already overstretched healthcare services.
More than 25 million total infections have been recorded in Europe, according to an AFP tally on Friday, and Russia said on Saturday it had surpassed three million.
The UK itself surpassed 70,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday and is facing a surge in infections from the new strain.
Six million people in the south and east were blocked since Saturday, bringing the total to 24 million across the country.
December 26 also brought a third national closure in Austria, with all non-essential stores closed, but ski resorts remained open.
The closure and curfew are scheduled to last until January 24.
– New variant –
The first French case of the new variant of the coronavirus was found in a citizen residing in Great Britain who arrived from London on December 19, the French Ministry of Health said on Friday evening.
He is asymptomatic and self-isolating at his home in Tours, central France, and the contacts of the healthcare professionals who treated him have been followed up.
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In Spain, this Saturday four cases were confirmed in Madrid.
The patients “were not seriously ill,” said the deputy director of Health of the Community of Madrid, Antonio Zapatero, adding that “there is no need to be alarmed.”
The new strain of the virus, which experts fear is more contagious, prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK, where it first emerged.
The bottlenecks of thousands of trucks in southern England eased on Saturday after France lifted a 48-hour entry ban for drivers with a negative coronavirus test and kept its Calais port open on Christmas Day.
South Africa has detected a similar mutation in some infected people, but on Friday denied British claims that its strain was more infectious or dangerous than the one native to the United Kingdom.
– ‘Extremely extraordinary glory’ –
In Asia, China’s communist leadership issued a statement praising the “extraordinary glory” of its handling of the virus that emerged in Hubei province last year, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Tokyo reported a record 949 new cases a day, and the figure for Japan as a whole recently topped 3,000 a day.
Thailand has also seen a new outbreak related to a seafood market near Bangkok that has infected nearly 1,500 people.
In Australia, there was little sign of the usual Boxing Day sale fever on the streets of Sydney on Saturday.
Residents largely heeded the state prime minister’s request to stay home in the face of a new cluster of viruses.
“Even when we walked into the store there were less than 10 people,” shopper Lia Gunawan told The Sydney Morning Herald after queuing for sales.
Around the world, people are urged to respect social distancing guidelines, as the World Health Organization urged people not to “waste” the “great and heartbreaking sacrifices” that people had made to save lives. .
“Vaccines are offering the world a way out of this tragedy. But it will take time for everyone to get vaccinated,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Friday.
– ‘Vaccines for all’ –
At the Vatican on Friday, Pope Francis had called for “vaccines for all” in his traditional Christmas message.
“I call on everyone, the leaders of states, companies, international organizations, to promote cooperation and not competition, to find a solution for all … especially for the most vulnerable and most needy in all regions of the planet “. Pope Francis said.
