Countries close transport links with Britain because of new coronavirus strain; nearly half a billion people in 27 European Union countries get access to vaccine for first time; Danish government to exhume thousands of mink killed last month; and surge in infections linked to fish market products in Thailand.
The most important news about the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide. The number of active cases worldwide exceeds 33 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Approximately 1.7 million people have died since the pandemic began.
More and more countries are isolating themselves from Great Britain, which has announced a new strict lockdown due to the new strain of Covid-19. India, Kuwait, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Belgium, and several other mostly European countries have joined the temporary flight ban. Russia will suspend air communications with Great Britain for a week (until 00:00 Moscow time on January 29), and the Ukrainian Embassy in Great Britain has recommended that Ukrainians temporarily refrain from traveling to London and southeastern England. On Sunday evening, France closed all transport links with Great Britain for 48 hours – ferries from the port of Dover across the English Channel stopped. Freight traffic is at a standstill, with miles-long queues of trucks on both sides of the border. Many countries have already ordered residents arriving from Britain in recent days to self-isolate. The new strain of coronavirus has not been studied much, but scientists say it spreads more easily from person to person than the previous ones. The number of infections increased by almost 36 thousand on Sunday – about twice as many as a week ago. Almost all southeastern counties in England, including London, were placed on the highest – fourth – level of epidemiological threat yesterday, which essentially means strict quarantine. According to the latest government statistics on Monday, 215 people diagnosed with coronavirus have died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic to 67,616. In the past 24 hours, 33.3 thousand people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, about 500 fewer diagnoses than the previous day. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at an evening press conference that 500,000 people had been vaccinated in Britain. According to the New York Times, 128,000 people had been vaccinated in the United States by the end of last week. At the start of the campaign, the British government claimed to have 800,000 doses of vaccine.
We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of offers should remain: episodes. End of story. Podcast Advertising. Unequal termination of freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel to France is causing serious damage to the British economy, said the British Federation of Food Manufacturers. According to its head, Ian Wright, France’s decision could cause serious problems with product deliveries to the UK on the eve of Christmas. The 48-hour ban on all freight traffic through the tunnel went into effect Sunday. Half of the UK’s trade with the EU and almost all of its winter imports of fresh produce are transported via the Channel Tunnel. Trucks carry not only everyday goods, but also components essential to British industry, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, protective gear, and the country’s only licensed coronavirus vaccine, which is manufactured in Belgium. These shipments have not yet been disrupted, as the ban only applies to traffic coming from England, and freight can still be transported from France in the opposite direction. However, over 85% of the trucks on this route are owned by EU carriers, and most of the drivers are citizens of these countries. Among both groups, there are fewer and fewer people willing to send or drive trucks across the Channel because of the risk of being stranded on the islands during Christmas. Boris Johnson said at an evening press conference on Monday that he had discussed the issue of traffic disruption with French President Emmanuel Macron. Both sides expressed a desire to resume the movement of cargo. “I had a great conversation with the French president. He emphasized that he wants to resolve the issue within a matter of hours if possible,” Johnson said. “Our teams will work hard on it and if we get a result, it will be great. We will do everything as soon as possible,” he said. The governments of the two countries are indeed discussing the conditions for trucks from the UK to enter France, but a final decision is not expected before tomorrow, according to BBC sources.
In EU countries, vaccination centers are ready to start work (pictured: center in Berlin). The European Medicines Agency has approved the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine in the European Union. Now the European Commission must approve the use of the drug. Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Monday that they are ready to start delivering the vaccines as soon as that happens. “In the heart of the European Union, we are very pleased to take another step closer to delivering the first dose of the vaccine to its territory,” Ugur Sahin, CEO of the German company BioNTech, said in a statement. Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine has shown 95% efficacy in clinical trials. It must be stored at a temperature of -70 degrees Celsius, which significantly complicates the logistics of delivery. EU countries will be among the last to start using the vaccine. The first vaccinations were administered in the United Kingdom in early December and in the United States in the middle of the month. In the European Union, vaccination is scheduled to begin on December 27. The situation with infection rates in EU countries is not improving yet.
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, who has contracted the coronavirus, celebrated his 43rd birthday in isolation. The president still has symptoms, but test results are encouraging, according to the president’s office.
The Danish government has decided to dig up several million mink carcasses that were slaughtered in early November, fearing that the animals could infect humans with a mutated strain of Covid-19. On December 10, Danish ecologists warned that carcass toxins from several million buried minks could contaminate groundwater. One of the burial sites is near a water treatment plant, while the other is near a reservoir. The issue of killing and then exhuming minks in Denmark has political significance. The decision to euthanize millions of animals cost Agriculture Minister Mogens Jensen his job. The mink that were dug out of the graves are scheduled to be exhumed in May – by then, experts say, the danger of contracting Covid-19 from their carcasses will have passed.
Thai authorities are conducting emergency tests for the coronavirus: Covid-19 has been detected in several hundred visitors to the open seafood market. The market is located in a suburb of Bangkok. The entire province of Samut Sakon is under lockdown. Residents have been asked not to leave their homes. Migrants from Myanmar, who make up the majority of the market’s workers, are under special surveillance. On Monday, the virus was detected in 360 market workers, the largest increase in new infections in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. Thailand was the first country outside of China to detect the coronavirus.
President-elect Joe Biden received a live COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. Earlier in the day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence also received the vaccine. The outgoing President of the United States, Donald Trump, has not yet announced any plans to get vaccinated. The United States continues to lead the world in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 17 million people have been infected in the country. 317,000 people have died. A growing number of countries are suspending rail and air links with Britain due to the new, more aggressive strain of Covid-19. Slovakia’s prime minister fell ill after meeting Macron, and Australia reintroduces restrictions. This and other news on the coronavirus situation around the world in our daily roundup.