Coronavirus Live News: Biden to Restore Covid Travel Ban as World Approaches 100 Million Cases | World news

Experts have called for more clarity on the existing monitoring to assess the 12-week dosing interval for Covid vaccines, as the UK vaccination program ramps up.

According to government data released on Sunday, a total of 6,353,321 people in the UK have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. On Monday a whole series of vaccination centers will open to speed up the delivery of the injections.

These include at the Crick Institute in London, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Lancaster Town Hall, Bath Racecourse and the Black Country Living Museum, where scenes for the Peaky Blinders TV show were filmed.

“These 33 new major vaccine centers will strengthen our existing network and enable the NHS to protect as many people as possible in the coming weeks,” said vaccination minister Nadhim Zahawi.

However, controversy remains over the government’s decision to extend the interval between the two doses of the shots to a maximum of 12 weeks in an effort to protect as many people as possible.

Nicola Davis and Jessica Elgot of The Guardian report:

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, while the total is rapidly evolving to a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

The current total is 99,105,389 infections. At least 2,127,206 people died.

On average, about 650,000 cases of the coronavirus were reported daily in the past week.

Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most inbound and outbound flights in an effort to slow the spread of new coronavirus variants, AFP reports.

The measure starts Monday through Tuesday at midnight and will remain in effect until Sunday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Exceptions are made for cargo and firefighting flights, as well as travel for medical treatment, funerals and legal proceedings.

A panel of officials from the Department of Health and Home Affairs will be able to grant exemptions on request “for humanitarian or personal needs,” the statement said.

The decision came with the country in its third national coronavirus lockdown, which started in late December and extended to the end of the month on Tuesday due to an increase in deaths.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government’s intention to close the airport, as variants of the coronavirus are being detected in increasing numbers.

“We are hermetically sealing the air, with rare exceptions, to prevent virus mutations from entering and to ensure that we make rapid progress on our vaccination campaign,” he said ahead of a cabinet meeting.

US President Joe Biden will formally restore Covid’s travel restrictions on non-US travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries on Monday, according to two White House officials.

AP: The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the warrant, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list over concerns about a variant of the virus spreading outside that country.

Biden rescinds an order from President Donald Trump in his final days calling for travel restrictions to be relaxed starting Tuesday.

The decision to reverse the order isn’t surprising, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list underscores the new government’s concerns about mutations in the virus.

The South African variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant – native to the United Kingdom – has been found in several states.
Reuters was the first to report Biden’s decision to add South Africa to the list.

Biden issued an executive order last week ordering federal agencies to require international air travelers to be quarantined upon arrival in the US. The order also requires all US passengers 2 years and older to receive negative test results within three days of departure.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, while the total is rapidly evolving to a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

According to two White House officials, President Joe Biden will formally reinstate travel restrictions in the US on Monday for non-American travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the warrant, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list due to concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread outside that country.

Here are the other major developments in recent hours:

• Israel is going to ban passenger flights in an effort to prevent imports of Covid variants, which will take effect for two weeks from 10pm Monday
• Greek health authorities have reported an increase in the number of cases of the coronavirus variant first spotted in the UK, with 32 infections detected.
• The UK has reported an additional 30,004 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases, according to government data. This compares with 38,598 registered cases last Sunday.
• Jeremy Hunt, the former UK health secretary, has echoed calls from epidemiologists pushing for the use of medical masks to be mandatory on public transport and in shops.
• Serbia has discovered its first case of the British coronavirus variant, in a woman who has traveled from London, but no new lockdown is planned in the country, President Aleksandar Vučić said.
• Airbus has announced that about 500 workers have been quarantined following an outbreak at the Hamburg aircraft factory in which 21 workers tested positive, according to Reuters.
• Police used water cannons and dogs against protesters after hundreds gathered on a square in the center of Amsterdam on Sunday to protest a new curfew for the coronavirus.
• France likely to enter a third lockdown due to the spread of new coronavirus variants in the country, said the government’s top medical adviser to Covid-19’s policy.
• Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will call Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Mexico’s purchase of Sputnik V vaccine. the Mexican government said on Sunday.
• France has reported 18,436 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, against 23,924 on Saturday. Today’s figure is higher than last Sunday’s, when 16,642 infections were recorded.
• Ecuador has approved the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccinee, the health ministry said on Sunday.