COVID-19 UPDATE: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TEST POSITIVE, WHO “VERY DISAPPOINTED”

Tue 05 January 2021:

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.83 million lives in 191 countries and regions since it originated in China in December 2019.

Over 84.76 million cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 47.70 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University. The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.

WHO “very disappointed”

The head of the World Health Organization is “very disappointed” that China has still not authorised the entry of a team of international experts to examine the origins of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.

“Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China,” the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a news conference in Geneva.

“I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and I have once again made it clear the mission is a priority for the WHO,” he told reporters.

Lockdown extend in Germany

Germanyis extending lockdown measures until the end of the month and imposing new restrictions for coronavirus hotspots.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the premiers of Germany’s 16 federal states agreed on Tuesday afternoon to prolong by three weeks the lockdown that was put in place on 16 December.

As part of the extension, social gatherings across Germany are to be limited to one visitor from outside each household, and staff and visitors entering care homes will in the future be required to carry out compulsory rapid tests beforehand.

A new rule, restricting people’s movement to within 15 kilometers of their homes, will apply to municipalities that record more than 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the space of a week.

Armenian President test positive for Covid-19

The President is self-isolating in London where he was visiting grandchildren, his assistant Petrosyan said, speaking from Yerevevan, Armenia. Asked how he’s doing, she said “not bad.”

Sarkissian arrived in London on December 30 to celebrate New Years with his grandchildren, but Petrosyan said it’s not clear when he may leave.

“I don’t know the details (of restrictions), but maybe a little bit later,” she said when asked if he was allowed to leave the UK, given travel restrictions.

Premier League reveals large uptick in new positive Covid-19 cases

The English Premier League has announced 40 new positive Covid-19 cases among players and club staff in its latest round of testing – more than double from the previous week.

In a statement on Tuesday, the league said that between Dec. 28 to 31, 1,311 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19 of these, there were 28 new positive tests.

From Jan. 1 to 3, Covid-19 tests were administered to 984 players and club staff, with 12 tests coming back positive.

It is the first week players and club staff have been tested twice a week for Covid-19.

No sign SA’s new variant is more contagious than UK version, says WHO

There is no indication that the coronavirus variant identified in South Africa is more transmissible than the one spreading fast in Britain, the World Health Organization’s technical chief on Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said on Tuesday.

Over 100 travellers from Lesotho test positive at the border daily – Officials

Officials on Tuesday said more than 100 travellers from Lesotho were testing positive for COVID-19 daily and were either being returned if they are Lesotho citizens or admitted for treatment if they are South Africans, EWN reported.

The Department of Home Affairs said it also rejected nearly 150 fake COVID-19 certificates on Monday alone.

More than 120,000 Lesotho nationals went home at the beginning of the festive season and seven bodies of those that drowned trying to cross back to South Africa illegally have been recovered.

Turkey reported almost 15,000 cases in last 24 hours

Turkey reported 14,494 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 2,270,101.
It reported 194 related deaths over the same period, raising the total toll to 21,879.
Ankara has imposed curfews each weekday evening and full weekend lockdowns for more than a month.

Vietnam suspend flights from Britain and South Africa

Vietnam has suspended inbound flights from countries with new Covid-19 variants, initially Britain and South Africa, the health ministry.

A new variant first found in Britain includes a genetic mutation that could result in the virus spreading more easily between people.
“The risk for the disease to penetrate and spread in Vietnam is very high, especially from people entering from infected countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

UK strain of Covid-19 is highly problematic and could be a game changer

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the UK strain of Covid-19 is highly problematic and could be a game changer. He made the comments during a press conference Tuesday.

The governor said he spoke with global experts about the strain and said the numbers are frightening on the increase of the transmission of the virus.

“Apparently the UK strain can actually overtake the original Covid strain in a matter of weeks,” Cuomo said. “Even if the lethality doesn’t go up, the fact that it is so much more transmittable is a very real problem,” he added.

Cuomo urged anyone who may have been exposed to the state’s first confirmed case of the UK strain – in Saratoga – to contact the state and come forward. “Containment is vitally important here,” he said.