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South Africa registered its millionth case of Covid-19 and South Korea today became the last country to detect the new variant of the coronavirus, as the pandemic showed no signs of abating.
Global infections have surpassed 80 million with nearly 1.8 million deaths, even as vaccination campaigns accelerate in North America and Europe, and a leading American expert warned that the pandemic could get worse in the coming weeks.
The explosion of cases around the world in recent weeks has prompted the return of many unpopular restrictions, including some lockdowns, and concerns have risen after the detection of a new virus variant that experts believe could be more transmissible.
South Africa became the first African nation to register a million cases, official data showed yesterday, as authorities considered re-imposing restrictions to combat a second wave of infections driven by the new variant.
South Korea today became the latest nation to detect the variant, in three individuals from a London-based family who arrived in the country last week.
The new variant was first detected in Britain and reached other nations, such as Japan and Canada, prompting dozens of governments, including European nations, to impose travel restrictions on the UK.
Most European countries began their vaccination campaigns over the weekend, raising hopes of ending the pandemic, especially in some of the worst affected parts of the continent.
Known coronavirus infections topped 19 million in the United States yesterday, the worst-affected country in the world, adding one million cases in less than a week.
Cases in the United States have increased at an alarming rate in recent months. The world’s largest economy has added at least a million new cases a week since early November, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
But there was some relief for Americans yesterday when President Donald Trump finally signed a $ 900 billion stimulus bill, a long-awaited boost for millions of people whose livelihoods have been hit by the pandemic.
While the United States has also started vaccinating, experts have said that due to the expected increase in cases during the Christmas holidays, the situation could get much worse.
The US government’s top scientist, Anthony Fauci, warned yesterday that the worst of the pandemic could be yet to come, bringing the United States to a “tipping point” as vacation travel spreads the coronavirus.
About two million Americans have been vaccinated so far, well below the 20 million the Trump administration promised by the end of the year.
But Dr Fauci downplayed the shortfall as a normal setback in a hugely ambitious project, saying he was “pretty sure” that by April all the highest priority people would have been able to get vaccinated, clearing the way for the general population .
Vaccination campaigns have also started in China, Russia, Canada, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, and there were hopes for a more successful vaccine on the horizon.
Poland began a three-week partial lockdown today, and as Israel began a third period of its tightest restrictions over the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed optimism that a “world record” vaccination campaign will restore a degree of normal in a few weeks.
But there are concerns about vaccinations or outright rejection of vaccines, especially due to misinformation campaigns against vaccines.
Surveys have shown that many Europeans are unwilling to receive the vaccine, which could hamper efforts to fight the virus and achieve widespread immunization.
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Sydney bans New Years crowds as Australian virus cluster grows
Plans to allow thousands of frontline workers to ring in the New Year around Sydney Harbor were abandoned today as authorities work to suppress a growing cluster of virus cases in Australia’s most populous city.
Typically hundreds of thousands of eager partiers flock to the lookouts for the midnight fireworks launched from the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Although the usual hordes of revelers had been ruled out this year, authorities had plans to receive some 5,000 workers on the beach as a token of appreciation for their work against the pandemic.
But that idea has now been scrapped out of fear that the celebrations will turn into a wide-spread event.
“We have abandoned our plans in terms of viewing the fireworks from the Sydney CBD shoreline, so it will not be allowed,” said Gladys Berejiklian, state leader for New South Wales, whose capital is Sydney.
Permits will also be required to enter some parts of the city, as the celebrations will be limited to controlled and socially distanced events and small gatherings in people’s homes.
“We highly recommend that people watch the fireworks on television or go to a local outdoor location that is not on the beach and is not crowded,” Berejiklian said.
The decision to tighten restrictions comes as a group of cases on the city’s north beaches rose to 126 and the closure of several suburbs was extended until January 9.
Before the group, which emerged earlier this month, life had returned to relative normalcy across the country as the number of daily virus cases was reduced to a minimum.
Australia has recorded more than 28,300 cases and 909 deaths related to the virus in a population of approximately 25 million.
Saudi Arabia suspends passenger flights for at least a week
Saudi Arabia has extended its suspension of commercial passenger flights by at least a week and possibly two amid concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus.
However, Saudi Arabia will allow flights in “exceptional cases,” an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Foreigners will be allowed to leave the kingdom and cargo movement will be allowed, he added.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman suspended passenger flights and banned entry and exit across their land and sea borders last week after a new strain of the new coronavirus emerged in Britain.
Oman and Kuwait said they plan to lift the ban on December 29 and January 1, respectively.
“Saudi Arabia decided to extend the aforementioned measures for one more week to further assess the situation and ensure the safety of citizens and expatriates,” the SPA report said.
Earlier this month, the kingdom launched a vaccination campaign against Covid-19, using the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 362,000 cases, including more than 6,000 deaths, the highest among the Persian Gulf states, but has also reported a high rate of recovery.
Pfizer delays vaccine deliveries to eight EU countries
Pfizer has postponed the delivery of new batches of its coronavirus vaccine to eight European nations, including Spain, the Spanish Ministry of Health said today, a day after the EU began its immunization campaign.
Pfizer’s Spanish subsidiary informed Madrid last night of the delay in shipments to the eight nations due to a “problem in the loading and shipping process” at its plant in Belgium, the Health Ministry reported in a statement.
It did not specify which European nations, other than Spain, were affected.
Pfizer has informed the ministry that the problem “was already resolved” but the next delivery of vaccines “will be delayed a few hours” and will arrive in Spain tomorrow, one day later than expected, according to the statement.
Asked about the delay during an interview with Radio Ser, the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, said that it was due to a problem “linked to the control of the temperature” of the shipments that was “apparently fixed.”
The vaccine should be stored at ultra-low temperatures of approximately -70 degrees Celsius before being shipped to distribution centers in specially designed cold boxes filled with dry ice.
Once out of ultra-low temperature storage, the vaccine must be kept between 2 ° C and 8 ° C to remain effective for up to five days.
Spain is expected to receive 350,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine per week for the next three months.
Most of the nations of the European Union began their immunization campaigns against the virus this weekend with the Pfizer-BioNTech coup, starting with the elderly, healthcare workers and politicians.
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