- European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said Astrazeneca Plc will deliver an additional 9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine during the first quarter, bringing the total to 40 million doses in Europe.
- World Health Organization experts have visited the Wuhan market in central China, related to the first known cluster of COVID-19, looking for clues about the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, as several nations hardened the restrictions on trying to curb the spread of the pandemic.
- France has closed its borders to non-European countries except for essential travel, a day after Germany imposed a ban on most travelers from countries affected by new, more contagious coronavirus variants.
- Globally, more than two million people have died from the virus, with nearly 102 million cases recorded and 56 million recoveries.
Below are the latest updates:
Variant of the South African virus detected in Greece
Greek authorities have confirmed the first detection of the South African variant of the new coronavirus in the country, which has caused senior health officials to fly to the area where it was found to hold meetings.
The minister who led the government’s response to the pandemic and the head of the country’s public health agency met with doctors and the local bishop in the northern city of Thessaloniki. The variant is believed to be more contagious than the original type and was detected in a 36-year-old deacon in a suburb of the city.
“We will do tests to isolate people who have been in contact with the patient,” said Panayiotis Arkoumaneas, head of the National Public Health Organization.
The centennial British fundraiser, Captain Tom, in the hospital with COVID
British centenarian captain Tom Moore, who raised millions of pounds for the health service by walking around his garden during last year’s closure, has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. say his daughter.
The World War II veteran captured the public’s imagination in April, just before his centenary, when he was filmed circling with the help of a frame for his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, in the north of London.
He hoped to raise £ 1,000. Instead, he raised more than $ 30 million ($ 41 million) for the National Health Service, broke two Guinness World Records, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, earned a No. 1 single, he wrote an autobiography and helped create a charity.
British centenarian captain Tom Moore has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 [Dylan Martinez/Reuters]
The German Health Minister is open to using Russian, Chinese vaccines
German Health Minister Jens Spahn has said he is open to the use of coronavirus vaccines from Russia or China in Germany as a debate on the availability of vaccines in Europe.
“If a vaccine is safe and effective, regardless of the country in which it was produced, it can clearly help overcome the pandemic,” he said.
Spahn explained the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The vaccine should go through the normal authorization process.
Republicans are urging Biden to cut the $ 1.9 million COVID reduction
Ten Republicans in the U.S. Senate have offered a $ 1.9 million counter-proposal to President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill, saying a reduced version of the aid package would gain bipartisan support in Congress.
In a letter Sunday, Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney and others said their version of the bill would include $ 160 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment, including other things.
Read more here.
President Joe Biden gave a solid response to the central coronavirus of his campaign [File: Matt Rourke/The Associated Press]
Italy reports 237 coronavirus deaths
Italy reported 237 coronavirus-related deaths, up from 421 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily count of new infections was 11,252 compared to 12,715 on Saturday.
About 213,364 COVID-19 tests were performed last day, up from 298,010 earlier, the health ministry said.
European capitals affected by anti-COVID protests are holding back
Protesters angry at the coronavirus restrictions have staged rallies in several European cities, days after the Netherlands was shaken by riots.
Read more here.
A person wearing a mask attends a demonstration against measures of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Budapest [Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]
Canada to quarantine arriving travelers, suspend flights to the south
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, probably more contagious variants of the new coronavirus, including forcing travelers to quarantine at a hotel at their expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending line service. airline in Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30th.
Trudeau said Friday that in addition to the pre-boarding test that Canada already requires, the government will introduce mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.
Read more here.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the country will require testing for those arriving in the country [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]
Brazilian Sao Paulo says the ingredients to reach 8.6 million doses of vaccine on Wednesday
The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo expects to receive ingredients from Sinovac Biotech Ltd on Wednesday that will allow local production of 8.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the state government has reported.
The ingredients are at the airport in Beijing, China, awaiting discharge and will be used by the Butantan Institute, funded by the State of Sao Paulo, which has a partnership with Sinovac to produce the vaccines in Brazil.
Oman extends land closure by one week due to pandemic
Oman will extend the closure of its land borders for another week, until Feb. 8, to curb the spread of the coronavirus, state television said, citing a decision by the Gulf state’s coronavirus emergency committee.
The borders were closed on January 19 due to concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus, a measure that was expanded last week.
Israel says to send 5,000 shots of vaccine to Palestinians
Israel has said it will send 5,000 shots of coronavirus vaccine to the Palestinian Authority to inoculate medical personnel, following global pressure to ensure vaccination of Palestinians.
Israeli authorities have launched an aggressive campaign to vaccinate their own citizens, but the shots have not been made available to Palestinians in the West Bank.
Thousands protest in Vienna over far-right march on COVID measures
Thousands of protesters have clashed with police with riot gear in Vienna at the site of a banned far-right demonstration against coronavirus restrictions.
Vienna police banned numerous protests planned for this weekend, including one from the far-right Freedom Party for Sunday, on the grounds that protesters have generally disregarded the rules on social distancing and often they do not wear masks.
Since December 26, Austria is in its third national closure, with non-essential shops and many other companies closed and its staff unable to work.
Portugal virus rises “like a tsunami”
The German defense ministry says it will send medical care to Portugal, which on Saturday said only seven of the 850 ICU beds set aside for COVID-19 cases on its mainland were vacant.
It came after the Portuguese government had called for help from Berlin.
“The situation is only comparable to a tsunami in terms of the number of infections we are seeing increasing for weeks,” Ricardo Baptista Leite of the Catholic University of Portugal told Al Jazeera.
“It simply came to our notice then [three] months and … only last Friday did we start to see a slowdown in the increase in new cases … after the closure of schools and a stricter closure that was imposed two weeks earlier. “
In total, Portugal has recorded 711,018 confirmed infections and 12,179 related deaths.
Portugal has registered 711,018 confirmed infections [Duarte Sa/Reuters]
China sees an increase in cases
China has registered more than 2,000 new domestic cases of COVID-19 in January, the highest monthly total since the end of the initial outbreak in Wuhan in March last year.
The National Health Commission said 2,016 cases were registered in January, a figure that does not include another 435 infected people who came from abroad. Two people died this month, the first to report COVID-related deaths in China in several months.
Most new cases have occurred in three northern provinces, including more than 900 infections in the most affected Hubei province. In the capital, Beijing, 45 cases have been registered this month.
Thousands reject the virus’s restrictions on Israel’s funeral
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have defied Israeli coronavirus restrictions on attending a rabbi’s funeral, prompting Defense Minister Benny Gantz to demand an end to repeated breaches of community blockade rules.
A huge crowd, many wearing no masks, filled the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of 99-year-old Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, head of the influential Brisk yeshiva, or religious educational institute.
Egypt “receives” the first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines
Egypt has received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, according to airport officials.
The shipment of 50,000 doses arrived at Cairo International Airport on a flight from Dubai, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to report to the media.
Mohammed Awad Tag el-Din, Egypt’s presidential health adviser, said the shipment came from the company’s factory in India.
Italy to relax COVID curbs in many regions
The Italian government has said it will ease coronavirus restrictions in much of the country from Monday, despite warnings from health experts that the measure was risky in the face of concerns about the spread of more contagious variants.
After reviewing the latest COVID-19 data, the health ministry said it was changing 11 orange regions to so-called yellow zones, giving residents more freedom to travel and allowing bars and restaurants to reopen during the day.
In total, 16 regions will be in the lowest risk yellow zone and only four regions (Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Umbria) in the orange zone, along with the northern province of Bolzano. Nowhere in Italy will it be classified as a red zone, which entails strict restrictions on travel and business.
Hello and welcome to Aland Jazeera’s continued coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Elizabeth Melimopoulos from Doha, Qatar.