COVID-19 UPDATE: SAUDI ARABIA SUSPENDS INT. FLIGHTS FOR A WEEK, SA HOSPITALS REPORT CAPACITY STRAIN

Mon 21 December 2020:

Saudi Arabia suspended late on Sunday all international commercial flights for a renewable week except for the foreign flights already in the kingdom which will be allowed to leave, state news agency SPA reported quoting an interior ministry source.

Suspend all international flights for travelers – except in exceptional cases – temporarily for a week, which can be extended for another week, with the exception of foreign flights currently inside the Kingdom’s territory, which are allowed to leave.

Temporarily suspend entry to the Kingdom through land and sea ports for one week, which may be extended another week.

Any individual who has returned from EU countries or any country where the new mutation has been detected, starting from December 8, must self isolate for two weeks from the date of entering the Kingdom, and must undergo a coronavirus test during islation and repeat the test every five days.

All individuals who have returned from an EU country or any country where the new mutation has been detected or passed through one of those countries in transit during the past three months, must undergo a coronavirus test.

South African hospitals report capacity strain

Mediclinic International said it’s struggling with capacity constraints as the country experiences a second wave of coronavirus infections, Bloomberg reported.

Patients seeking care within Mediclinic hospitals are exceeding previous numbers during the first peak, Gerrit de Villiers, a group general manager said in a statement. Demand in many intensive care and high care units have reached capacity, the company said.

Mediclinic said coronavirus patients had climbed from less than 100 admissions to more than 500 in a month in its facilities across the Western Cape.

“This dramatic increase in numbers within the Western Cape has placed very heavy strain on available healthcare resources including staff, equipment and available beds to provide intensive treatment for seriously ill patients,” it said. Elective or non-emergency surgery has been cancelled.

Mediclinic said it is increasing beds available to Covid-19 patients and reallocating resources.

Meanwhile Germany is considering banning flights from South Africa and Britain to prevent the spread of a new, more infectious coronavirus strain circulating in the two countries, a source close to the German health ministry told AFP on Sunday.

Following the example of the Netherlands, where a ban on all passenger flights from the UK came into effect on Sunday, the German government was considering a similar move as “a serious option” for flights from both Britain and South Africa, the source said.

Qatar approves Pfizer vaccine for emergency use

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has approved the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, Qatar state news agency QNA reported on Twitter.

Qatar is due to receive the first shipment of the vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech onMonday.

UK PM Johnson to chair emergency response meeting on travel, freight

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain, a spokeswoman for his office said on Sunday.

“The prime minister will chair a COBR (emergency response)meeting tomorrow to discuss the situation regarding international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK.

Further meetings are happening this evening and tomorrow morning to ensure robust plans are in place,” the spokeswoman said.

Frontline essential workers should be next in line for US Covid vaccines – CDC advisors

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel has recommended frontline essential workers, and persons 75 years and older to be next in line to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

The frontline group includes 30 million workers such as first responders, teachers, food and agriculture, manufacturing, US Postal Service, public transit, and grocery store workers.

Vaccines effective against new virus strain – German health minister

European Union experts believe existing vaccines against coronavirus are effective against the new fast-spreading strain identified in Britain, Germany’s health minister said Sunday.

“According to everything we know so far” the new strain “has no impact on the vaccines”, which remain “just as effective”, Jens Spahn told public broadcaster ZDF, citing “talks among experts of European authorities”.

Spahn was referring especially to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is already being administered in countries including the US and UK and which is on the brink of receiving approva l from the European Medicines Agency.

India records 24,337 new cases

India has recorded 24,337 new cases of the coronavirus taking its tally to 10.06 million infections.

India’s total number of infections passed the 10 million milestone mark on Saturday, but the rate of new infections has slowed considerably since a September peak.

A total of 145,810 people in India have died of Covid-19, with 333 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

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