Sun 06 December 2020:
Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics, the government said on Sunday.
The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, with the National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating the over-80s, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents.
Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week, jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.
In total, Britain has ordered 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.
About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.
Australian state eases restrictions for summer
Australia’s Victoria state has eased virus restrictions after the country’s pandemic hotspot recorded 37 days without any new infections, moving toward a “Covid-safe” holiday season.
From midnight on Sunday, up to 100 people will be able to attend public gatherings such as weddings, with density rules of one person per two square metres remaining in place, while 50 percent of office workers will be able to return to workplaces by January 11, up from 25 percent now, the state’s premier said.
“Today we can take some big steps, not to normal, but to a Covid-safe summer (but) we all need to remain vigilant and we all need to play our part,” Premier Daniel Andrews told a news conference.
Masks will remain mandatory at indoor venues and on public and ride-share transport, he said.
German police break up banned coronavirus demonstration
German police intervened to break up a demonstration by opponents of coronavirus lockdown measures in the northern city of Bremen after the protest was banned by the country’s highest court.
Germany’s constitutional court upheld earlier rulings by lower courts that had already denied permission for 20,000 demonstrators to convene in the city centre of Bremen.
However, hundreds of people still gathered, some of them opponents of the government’s coronavirus measure s and others part of a counter-demonstration.
Bremen police said on Twitter they were trying to keep the groups apart and break up the banned gathering, as well as urging people to wear face masks.
Last month, police unleashed water cannon and pepper spray in an effort to scatter thousands of protesters in Berlin angry about coronavirus restrictions.
Although most Germans accept the latest “lockdown light” to curb a second wave of the coronavirus, critics say the measures endanger citizens’ civil rights.
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