COVID-19 UPDATE: INDONESIA DECLARE SINOVAC’S VACCINE HALAL, 87 INMATES IN CORRECTIONAL SERVICE TEST POSITIVE IN SA

Fri 08 January 2021:

COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Last updated: January 08, 2021, 17:32 GMT

Indonesian clerics declare Sinovac’s vaccine halal

A Covid-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac Biotech has been deemed halal, or permissible under Islam, Indonesia’s Ulema Council said, days before the country is scheduled to start its inoculation programme using the Chinese vaccine.

Asrorun Niam Sholeh of the council’s fatwa commission told a news conference that the vaccine, named CoronaVac, was “holy and halal”, although authorisation still rests on the Indonesia’s food and drug agency. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, has received 3 million doses of CoronaVac.

Germany’s cases rise by 31,849

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany have increased by 31,849 to 1,866,887, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. The reported death toll rose by 1,188 to 38,795, the tally showed. 

World’s biggest museum in Paris lost more than 70% of visitors

The Louvre in Paris, the world’s biggest museum, lost more than 70% of visitors last year, with restrictions in France and across the world keeping art lovers away, it said on Friday. Receipts fell by more than €90m (£81.1m) compared with 2019.

The Louvre, which closed for six months during French coronavirus lockdowns, saw visitor numbers plunge to 2.7m in 2020, from 9.6m in 2019 and 10.2m in 2018, which was a record year, the French state-backed news agency AFP reported.

“7 Days Quarantine A Must”: Airport Tweets After Delhi Order Causes Chaos

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport on Friday evening tweeted a clarification of coronavirus testing and isolation rules for all passengers arriving on flights from the United Kingdom, stating, among other points, that the waiting time for Covid test results could extend up to 10 hours and that the cost of the test and intervening stay had to be borne by the passengers.

The tweet comes after chaos at the airport today – caused by a last minute revision of rules that made seven days’ institutional quarantine mandatory even for passengers with negative RT-PCR tests.

UK Approves Moderna’s COVID Vaccine

Britain’s medical regulator on Friday approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for use, the health ministry said, adding that it had agreed to purchase an additional 10 million doses of the shot as it eyed a spring rollout of the shot.

Three COVID-19 vaccines have now been approved for use in Britain, with Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot and one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca already being rolled out.

Britain now has 17 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine on order, and supplies will begin to be delivered to the UK from spring once Moderna expands its production capability.

Imports Of US, British COVID-19 Vaccines Into Iran Banned: Ayatollah Khamenei

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned Iran’s government on Friday from importing COVID-19 vaccines from the United States and Britain, Reuters reported

“Imports of U.S. and British vaccines into the country are forbidden. I have told this to officials and I’m saying it publicly now,” Khamenei said in a live televised speech.

“I have no confidence in them. Sometimes they want to test vaccines on other nations … If the Americans were able to produce a vaccine, they would not have such a coronavirus fiasco in their own country.”

Fraudster charges 92-year-old London woman £160 for fake vaccine jab

Police in London are searching for a fraudster who injected a 92-year-old woman with a fake Covid-19 vaccine after claiming to work for the NHS, who charged the victim £160.

She said she was jabbed in the arm with a “dart-like implement” before being charged £160, which the man said would be refunded by the NHS.

The City of London police said it was not known what substance, if any, was administered, but the woman showed no ill-effects after a check at her local hospital.

Vaccines may not work against SA virus variant, UK minister warns

A British minister has raised concerns that COVID-19 vaccines might not work properly against the new and highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus discovered in South Africa.

“The South African variant is worrying the experts because it may be that the vaccine doesn’t respond in the same way or doesn’t work in quite the same way,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the UK’s LBC radio. “This South African variant – this is a very big concern for the scientists.”

Russia reports 23,652 more cases

Russia has reported 23,652 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, including 5,027 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,355,794.

Authorities said 454 people had died, taking Russia’s official death toll to 60,911.

87 inmates in correctional service test positive for covid-19 in S.Africa

The Helderstroom Correctional Services Facility in Caledon, in the Western Cape, has been placed on lockdown on Friday after 87 inmates tested positive for COVID-19, EWN reported

Five officials at the facility have also tested positive.

All efforts are now under way to contain the spread of the virus at the facility.

The Department of Correctional Services’ Singabako Nxumalo said: “We had to place that facility under lockdown so we could contain any further spread of COVID-19 infections. So, the inmates who are in there cannot move out that particular facility.”

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