BANGKOK – Thousands lined up on Sunday for coronavirus tests in a province near Bangkok, as Thai authorities rushed to contain an outbreak that infected nearly 700 people.
The migrant workers’ lines mainly stretched for about 100 meters to a single location in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon Province, as health officials from the mobile units methodically took nasal swabs.
There were a total of three locations in the area. Nearby, the wire guard and police blocked access to one of Thailand’s largest seafood markets and its associated housing complex, the epicenter of the new group.
Thailand’s disease control department said on Sunday it had found another 141 cases of the market outbreak. On Saturday, the department reported 548 cases, the highest daily increase in Thailand.
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VIRUS FIRE:
– European countries stop flights from the UK, fearing the new coronavirus variant.
– General apologies f or “mis-communication” on shipments of vaccines.
– An increase in the “new poor” related to closed restaurants and hotels it is fighting against the background of the outbreak of Italy.
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Here’s what happens:
PRAGUE – The Czech Republic imposes restrictions on travel in the UK following the discovery of a new allegedly highly contagious coronavirus strain in the south of England.
The Czech Ministry of Health says that, given the risk associated with the new variant that has been confirmed in the UK, all people who have arrived in the country who have spent at least 24 hours in the UK in the last two weeks must be isolated.
The ministry says they must remain isolated for 10 days, unless they are tested negative by a PCR test five to seven days after their self-isolation.
It is said that the measure aimed at increasing public safety becomes effective on Sunday.
Belgium and the Netherlands have begun banning flights from the UK in response to tougher measures in London and surrounding areas on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Germany, a neighbor of the Czech Republic, plans to do the same.
Johnson said a new rapid variant of the virus, which is 70% more communicable than existing strains, appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England.
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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s planning minister, who also heads the national coronavirus control body, tested positive and went home in isolation, while federal authorities reported another 80 new deaths and 3,297 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours on Sunday.
Asad Umar announced his isolation due to the virus on Saturday. Umar appealed to fellow citizens to adhere to precautions regarding the physical distance and wearing of face masks at all times, when in public or in public. But it is observed that the people of this nation of 22 million rarely follow the rules to avoid COVID-19.
Authorities remain partially or completely closed in many neighborhoods across the country. With new deaths, the country’s number has reached 9330, while the number of people affected is now 457288. Pakistan will receive the vaccine by the end of February and will start vaccination in March, giving priority to health workers and the elderly.
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BERLIN – Germany is considering limiting flights from the UK to ensure that a new highly contagious coronavirus strain, which runs through the south of England, will not spill over into Germany, the dpa news agency reported on Sunday.
A senior German government official told dpa that restrictions on flights from the UK were a “serious option”.
Belgium and the Netherlands have begun banning flights from the UK in response to tougher measures in London and surrounding areas on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Johnson said a new rapid variant of the virus, which is 70% more communicable than existing strains, appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England.
The German government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is in close contact with its European neighbors on the developing situation, dpa reported.
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BRUSSELS – Belgium has joined the Netherlands in banning flights from the UK and also banned rail connections in an attempt to ensure that a new strain of coronavirus crossing the south of England does not spill into its territory.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Sunday that he was issuing the order for 24 hours starting at midnight “as a precaution”.
“There are a lot of questions about this new mutation and whether it is already on the continent,” he said. He hopes to have more clarity starting Tuesday.
The Netherlands bans flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year.
Both Belgium and the Netherlands reacted on Saturday to tougher measures imposed in London and surrounding areas by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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AMSTERDAM – The Netherlands bans flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year, in an attempt to ensure that a new strain of coronavirus that crosses the south of England does not reach its shores.
The ban went into effect on Sunday morning, and the government said it was reacting to tougher measures imposed on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on tougher measures in London and surrounding areas. The Netherlands said it would assess “together with other European Union countries the possibilities of limiting imports of the virus from the United Kingdom”.
Johnson said a new rapid variant of the virus, which is 70% more communicable than existing strains, appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England.
“There is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe disease,” the prime minister said, or that vaccines will be less effective against him.
The Dutch government is already advising its citizens not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
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JERUSALEM – Israel began coronavirus inoculation on Sunday to vaccinate about 60,000 people a day in a bid to eradicate the growing disease among its population.
The country will first immunize health workers, followed by the elderly, high-risk Israelis and those over 60 years of age. Israel says it has provided enough doses for a large part of the country’s 9 million people, both from Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccine the US authorities approved this week for emergency use.
Given that public opinion polls show that many Israelis are reluctant to be shot immediately, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would set a “personal example” and insisted he was the first Israeli to be vaccinated. He was shot Saturday night.
Netanyahu called it “an exciting time” that would put Israel back on track to its normal routines. The country’s health minister also received a vaccine.
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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea has registered more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus for the fifth day in a row, putting pressure on authorities to implement the toughest spacing rules that would further affect the economy.
The Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency says it has found an additional 1,097 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number since the pandemic began. This brings the national number of cases to 49,665, including 674 deaths.
About 70% of new cases come from the densely populated metropolitan area of Seoul, which has been at the center of a viral recurrence.
The pace of spreading has already met the government’s conditions for raising the rules of social distancing to the highest level. But officials have been reluctant to go ahead with the measure out of concern for the economy. The new steps would be to ban meetings of more than 10 people and close hundreds of thousands of non-essential companies.
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SYDNEY – Fires in the northern suburbs of Sydney’s beach have risen to 70 in 30 cases in the past 24 hours, and authorities say they may not be able to track the source.
As the number grows, Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian of New South Wales said on Sunday that there was no evidence of mass sowing outside the North Beach community. However, a new list of cases shows that the virus has spread to Sydney and other parts of the state.
The government imposed a blockade in the area until Wednesday. Residents will be allowed to leave their homes for only five basic reasons, including medical care, exercise, grocery, service, or compassionate care.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said contact tracking devices have not yet located the zero patient, but an extensive investigation is underway.
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https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak