Mon 28 December 2020:
China declared State of emergency
China declared a state of emergency across all districts of its capital Beijing amid surging COVID-19 cases.
Travel was halted in and out of areas where the virus was detected, while inspections and controls were tightened at all points, according to local media.
The state of emergency continues in the capital due to the successive detection of cases in Shunyi district, which is located in the northeast of the capital and near Beijing Capital International Airport.
Also, some airport employees reportedly reside in Shunyi.
Sydney bans New Year crowds as Australian virus cluster grows
Australia has recorded over 28,300 cases and 909 deaths linked to the virus in a population of about 25 million.
Vaccine will not be mandatory in Turkey
Turkey will not make vaccination against the novel coronavirus compulsory, the country’s top health official said Sunday.
“Our vaccination program is ready. With our scientists, we will make efforts to convince the public about the necessity of vaccination against the coronavirus,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter
Turkey reported 14,205 more coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, including 2,806 symptomatic patients, the Health Ministry announced Sunday. The overall caseload rose to 2.14 million with the latest additions.
As many as 21,196 patients also recovered, bringing the tally to 2.01 million, while the death toll rose to 19,878 with 254 additions. Across the country, 172,113 new COVID-19 tests were conducted, pushing the total to over 23.77 million.
Meanwhile Chinese coronavirus vaccine delivery to Turkey was postponed Sunday for “one or two days,” the Turkish health minister announced.
The latest snag was caused by an emergency in Beijing customs due to the discovery of a novel coronavirus case there, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
As a result of the incident, customs mobility has been temporarily suspended, Koca explained.
The first batch of 3 million doses of the Chinese SinoVac vaccine had been expected to arrive in Turkey on Dec. 28.
Brazil’s vice president tests positive
Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao has tested positive for COVID-19, officials announced late Sunday.
According to a statement by his press team, Mourao, who is 67, was put under quarantine at his official residence, Jaburu Palace. The exact details of his health were not disclosed.
Saudi lifts flight ban out of kingdom for non-Saudis
Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority has said non-Saudis could now leave the kingdom after all international commercial flights were halted last week.
Last Sunday, Saudi Arabia closed its borders and suspended commercial flights over fears about a new coronavirus variant.
Meanwhile, Riyadh extended a ban on entry to the kingdom by air, land, and sea for another week amid new coronavirus variant fears, the state news agency reported.
South Korea reports first variant of virus found in UK
South Korea has reported the first variant of coronavirus linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain in three people who had entered South Korea from London on December 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Monday.
South Africa passes 1 million Covid-19 cases
South Africa has passed a bleak milestone in the Covid-19 pandemic, recording over 1 million confirmed, cumulative infections since the crisis first hit the country in March 2020.
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that the country has recorded 1,004,413 cases, with 9,502 new cases reported on Sunday (27 December).
“In many countries, this wave has been more severe the first one. Right now, we are in the middle of it. It is important for people to take this seriously. It started with the Eastern Cape then Western Cape, now KZN and Gauteng following suit,” Mkhize said.
“People are meeting in crowded places, having parties and forgetting their masks. These are things that worsen the situation.”
UK medics ‘frustrated’ about low priority given to vaccination of frontline staff
Frontline NHS staff have been denied the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, leaving doctors alarmed and “scrabbling” to get immunised, The Guardian Reported
A new survey reveals that almost two-thirds of medics who responded to it have still not had the vaccine, half believe its delivery to the NHS frontline has been “ad hoc” and a third have no idea when they will be offered it.
They fear the government’s decision to prioritise over-80s and care home staff above health workers has left them at risk of catching the disease, especially given the emergence of the coronavirus variant, which is 70% more transmissable.
In EveryDoctor’s self-selecting survey 831 (63%) of the 1,316 doctors had not yet had the first dose of the vaccine while 451 (34%) said they did not know what the plan was for immunising staff.
In a letter to staff on 18 December, the divisional directors for medicine, surgery and nursing at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS trust, admitted that “the absence of clarity” about when workers could have the jab “is causing a high degree of anxiety and concern amongst some groups within our workforce”.
The trio explained that the trust’s “limited capacity for staff vaccination slots” was the result of ministers decreeing that 75% of supplies of the Pfizer jab should be given to those over 80 and 20% to care home personnel, leaving just 5% – or 48 doses from a batch of 975 – for NHS staff.
Dr Julia Patterson, the lead for EveryDoctor, a network of grassroots medics in the NHS, said: “The government needs to urgently rethink its strategy regarding Covid-19 vaccine priorities.
“Vaccines stop people from passing viruses on. We have limited vaccines available. Who is most in need of a vaccine? The people who are forced to mix with others. And those people are the frontline healthcare staff looking after Covid-19 patients, who encounter Covid-19 continually.”
The global novel coronavirus has infected over 81 million people and claimed more than 1.7 million lives.
