The new variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain has been confirmed in northern Mexico.

The confirmation of the especially contagious new variant of the virus marks the first time it has been found in Mexico, home to the pandemic's forth-highest death toll globally.

A 56-year-old British man who flew on December 29 from Mexico City to the city of Matamoros, just south of the US-Mexico border, tested positive for the new strain, both state and national health officials said on Sunday.

The man arrived in the Mexican capital a day earlier on a flight from Amsterdam. Upon arriving in Matamoros, the man did not show any symptoms of COVID-19. But he nonetheless tested positive again after a second test was administered to him on December 31.

Officials say that while the new variant has been detected, it is not believed to be circulating on any significant scale among the population.

A dozen passengers on the same Mexico City-Matamoros flight have not yet been identified, while the rest of the 45-passenger flight have all tested negative, including the plane's crew.

The British man remains hospitalised in Matamoros, and was placed on a ventilator on Saturday.

Officials did not say that any form of contact tracing or testing had been conducted on passengers on the Amsterdam-Mexico City flight.

The fast-spreading new strain of the virus has also been found in South Africa and Australia, prompting authorities to take more aggressive action to prevent even greater contagion as countries across the globe struggle to contain the pandemic.&nbsp;

The new variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain has been confirmed in northern Mexico. The confirmation of the especially contagious new variant of the virus marks the first time it has been found in Mexico, home to the pandemic's forth-highest death toll globally.

The new variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain has been confirmed in northern Mexico. The confirmation of the especially contagious new variant of the virus marks the first time it has been found in Mexico, home to the pandemic's forth-highest death toll globally. A 56-year-old British man who flew on December 29 from Mexico City to the city of Matamoros, just south of the US-Mexico border, tested positive for the new strain, both state and national health officials said on Sunday. The man arrived in the Mexican capital a day earlier on a flight from Amsterdam. Upon arriving in Matamoros, the man did not show any symptoms of COVID-19. But he nonetheless tested positive again after a second test was administered to him on December 31. Officials say that while the new variant has been detected, it is not believed to be circulating on any significant scale among the population. A dozen passengers on the same Mexico City-Matamoros flight have not yet been identified, while the rest of the 45-passenger flight have all tested negative, including the plane's crew. The British man remains hospitalised in Matamoros, and was placed on a ventilator on Saturday. Officials did not say that any form of contact tracing or testing had been conducted on passengers on the Amsterdam-Mexico City flight. The fast-spreading new strain of the virus has also been found in South Africa and Australia, prompting authorities to take more aggressive action to prevent even greater contagion as countries across the globe struggle to contain the pandemic.

New coronavirus strain first seen in Britain confirmed in Mexico

Russia is planning to begin trials of a single-dose version of its Sputnik V vaccine, officials claimed on Monday. "Sputnik Light" will be a single-dose derivative of the original vaccine, as the country tries to keep up with global demand for vaccines.

In August 2020, Russia became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine. Since then, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which was responsible for financing and developing the vaccine claims to have inoculated 1.5 million people around the world against COVID-19.

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"Sputnik Light" will be less effective than its double-dose version, but could provide temporary relief to countries that are hardest-hit.

RDIF's head Kirill Dmitriyev was quoted by AFP as saying that the "one component" version of Sputnik V could be used as an "effective temporary solution" for countries that are currently facing a surge in the number of infections.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/russia-says-15-million-vaccinated-globally-with-sputnik-v-355985" hreflang="en">Russia says 1.5 million vaccinated globally with Sputnik V</a>

By registering the vaccine in August, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine, way before its western counterparts. However, the country had gone ahead with registration before the trials had begun, spurring fears of the safety imbued in the vaccine. 
 
In early December, Russia began mass vaccinations across the country, even when the vaccine remained in the third phase of clinical trials. Critics saw it as a move by Russia to strengthen its geopolitical influence.

The developers of Sputnik V claim that the vaccine is over 90 per cent effective while adding that over a billion doses of the vaccines had been pre-ordered across the globe.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/argentina-starts-coronavirus-vaccine-with-russias-sputnik-v-353174" hreflang="en">Argentina starts coronavirus vaccine with Russia's Sputnik V</a>

During an interview in December, Dmitriyev had claimed that the light version of the vaccine would offer 85 per cent efficacy, 5 per cent lesser than its original counterpart.

After claims of 1.5 global inoculations went public, public interest in the vaccine heightened. So far, Moscow had sent batches of its vaccine to Belarus, Serbia, and Argentina. In these countries, the vaccine was registered under an emergency use authorisation programme.

In a statement on Monday, the RDIF had added that Palestinian authorities had also approved the vaccine for emergency use. The delivery of the vaccine is slated for the first quarter of 2021.

Russia is planning to begin trials of a single-dose version of its Sputnik V vaccine, officials claimed on Monday. "Sputnik Light" will be a single-dose derivative of the original vaccine, as the country tries to keep up with global demand for vaccines.

Russia is planning to begin trials of a single-dose version of its Sputnik V vaccine, officials claimed on Monday. "Sputnik Light" will be a single-dose derivative of the original vaccine, as the country tries to keep up with global demand for vaccines. In August 2020, Russia became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine. Since then, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which was responsible for financing and developing the vaccine claims to have inoculated 1.5 million people around the world against COVID-19. "Sputnik Light" will be less effective than its double-dose version, but could provide temporary relief to countries that are hardest-hit. RDIF's head Kirill Dmitriyev was quoted by AFP as saying that the "one component" version of Sputnik V could be used as an "effective temporary solution" for countries that are currently facing a surge in the number of infections. Also read: Russia says 1.5 million vaccinated globally with Sputnik V By registering the vaccine in August, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine, way before its western counterparts. However, the country had gone ahead with registration before the trials had begun, spurring fears of the safety imbued in the vaccine. In early December, Russia began mass vaccinations across the country, even when the vaccine remained in the third phase of clinical trials. Critics saw it as a move by Russia to strengthen its geopolitical influence. The developers of Sputnik V claim that the vaccine is over 90 per cent effective while adding that over a billion doses of the vaccines had been pre-ordered across the globe. Also read: Argentina starts coronavirus vaccine with Russia's Sputnik V During an interview in December, Dmitriyev had claimed that the light version of the vaccine would offer 85 per cent efficacy, 5 per cent lesser than its original counterpart. After claims of 1.5 global inoculations went public, public interest in the vaccine heightened. So far, Moscow had sent batches of its vaccine to Belarus, Serbia, and Argentina. In these countries, the vaccine was registered under an emergency use authorisation programme. In a statement on Monday, the RDIF had added that Palestinian authorities had also approved the vaccine for emergency use. The delivery of the vaccine is slated for the first quarter of 2021.

Russia to begin trials of single-dose 'Sputnik Light' coronavirus vaccine

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus. 
 
<a href="wionews.com/world/who-experts-to-visit-china-from-thursday-to-investigate-virus-origin-355920">Also read | WHO experts to visit China from Thursday to investigate virus origin</a>

The UK government’s chief medical adviser has said that the next few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the worst as the new highly infectious variants of the virus rampage across the country.

"The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of numbers into the NHS (National Health Service)," Chris Whitty said. "What we need to do before the vaccines have had their effect, because it will take several weeks before that happens, we need to really double down." 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-is-the-new-coronavirus-strain-discovered-in-japan-about-355904#new-virus-strain-discovered-in-japan-354578">In pictures | What is the new coronavirus strain discovered in Japan about?</a> 
 
"Anybody who is not shocked by the number of people in hospital who are seriously ill at the moment and who are dying over the course of this pandemic, I think, has not understood this at all. This is an appalling situation," he told BBC TV.

In a bid to get on top of the pandemic and to try to restore some degree of normality by the spring, Britain is planning the country's largest ever vaccination programme, shots initially offered to all those in its top four priority categories - about 15 million people - by the middle of next month.

Having become the first country to approve vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Britain will open seven large-scale vaccination centres as it seeks to reach a target of offering shots to 15 million people by the middle of next month.

"The vaccinations are really beginning to ramp up, 200,000 a day, we've done an incredible job this past week," vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News, saying they would offer shots to those in the highest risk levels, the eldest and frontline health workers, by February 15.

More than 81,400 people in the United Kingdom have died within 28 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth-highest official death toll globally.

On Friday, London's Mayor warned the British capital's hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by COVID patients, and ministers and health chiefs have pleaded with people to respect lockdown measures and stay at home unless it was essential to go out.

"We have got to be able to maintain this for several more weeks now," said Whitty, adding it would require "significant action" until sometime in the spring.

"We are now very close to the point, with the vaccinations, where we are able to get on top of this, but it is not yet."

There have been calls for the government to take tougher action against those who break the rules, such as refusing to wear masks in supermarkets, amid concern the disease is being spread by shoppers in the stores.

"These rules are not boundaries to be pushed against. These rules are there to try and make sure we bring this virus under control," Zahawi said.

(With inputs from agencies)

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus.

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus. Also read | WHO experts to visit China from Thursday to investigate virus origin The UK government’s chief medical adviser has said that the next few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the worst as the new highly infectious variants of the virus rampage across the country. "The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of numbers into the NHS (National Health Service)," Chris Whitty said. "What we need to do before the vaccines have had their effect, because it will take several weeks before that happens, we need to really double down." In pictures | What is the new coronavirus strain discovered in Japan about? "Anybody who is not shocked by the number of people in hospital who are seriously ill at the moment and who are dying over the course of this pandemic, I think, has not understood this at all. This is an appalling situation," he told BBC TV. In a bid to get on top of the pandemic and to try to restore some degree of normality by the spring, Britain is planning the country's largest ever vaccination programme, shots initially offered to all those in its top four priority categories - about 15 million people - by the middle of next month. Having become the first country to approve vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Britain will open seven large-scale vaccination centres as it seeks to reach a target of offering shots to 15 million people by the middle of next month. "The vaccinations are really beginning to ramp up, 200,000 a day, we've done an incredible job this past week," vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News, saying they would offer shots to those in the highest risk levels, the eldest and frontline health workers, by February 15. More than 81,400 people in the United Kingdom have died within 28 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth-highest official death toll globally. On Friday, London's Mayor warned the British capital's hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by COVID patients, and ministers and health chiefs have pleaded with people to respect lockdown measures and stay at home unless it was essential to go out. "We have got to be able to maintain this for several more weeks now," said Whitty, adding it would require "significant action" until sometime in the spring. "We are now very close to the point, with the vaccinations, where we are able to get on top of this, but it is not yet." There have been calls for the government to take tougher action against those who break the rules, such as refusing to wear masks in supermarkets, amid concern the disease is being spread by shoppers in the stores. "These rules are not boundaries to be pushed against. These rules are there to try and make sure we bring this virus under control," Zahawi said. (With inputs from agencies)

Britain steps up vaccinations as coronavirus cases surge, worst weeks still to come

Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, as the UK reported it had surpassed more than three million cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

More than 1.9 million people worldwide have now died from the virus, with new variants adding to soaring cases and prompting the re-introduction of restrictions on movement across the globe -- even as some countries begin mass inoculation campaigns.

Pope Francis urged people to get the vaccination, calling opposition to the jab "suicidal denial" and saying he would get inoculated against the virus himself next week when the Vatican would begin its campaign.

"There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated," the pontiff said in segments from an interview with Canale 5 due to be broadcast in full on Sunday.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip received their Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday, Buckingham Palace said, in a rare public comment on the private health matters of the long-serving monarch.

A source told the domestic Press Association news agency that the queen, 94, and Philip, 99, were given the injections by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle.

More than 1.5 million people in Britain have so far received virus jabs, as the biggest immunisation programme in its history rolls out with priority given to the elderly, their carers and health workers.

Countries across the globe are following suit, starting up massive vaccination campaigns with several coronavirus shots approved so far, including those by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and domestically made jabs from Russia and China.

Britain, which has so far administered two types of vaccines, is racing to inoculate as many people as possible as a new variant believed to be more contagious pushes infections and deaths to unprecedented levels.

British health authorities on Saturday said the country had recorded more than three million coronavirus infections since the pandemic began last year, after the government announced another 59,937 new daily cases.

The country also recorded another 1,035 fatalities from the virus, taking the total death toll to 80,868, one of the highest in Europe alongside Italy.

Cases also continue to spiral in the United States, the world's worst hit country, which recorded more than 272,000 new cases Saturday. More than 22 million people have been infected and 372,051 have died of Covid-19 in the US since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.

- Tighter restrictions -

India will launch one of the world's most ambitious coronavirus free vaccination drives next Saturday, aiming to reach 300 million people by July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

India is the second worst-hit country with more than 10 million cases, though the death rate is one of the world's lowest.

Cuba, meanwhile, said it would test its most advanced Covid vaccine candidate in Iran, after Tehran banned the import of already-proven US and British-produced vaccines.&nbsp;

Fears have been rising over new virus variants that emerged in Britain and South Africa, but BioNTech brought some relief on Friday, saying its vaccine was effective against a "key mutation" found in the strains.

Soaring infections are forcing governments once again to introduce restrictions that helped slow the spread of the virus last year, but battered the global economy and disrupted business, sports and cultural events worldwide.

France will extend its Covid-19 curfews to a further eight departments, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Saturday, citing a "tough and necessary" response.

After a rise in cases, Burundi will close its land and lakeside borders from Monday and impose a seven-day quarantine on travellers arriving by plane, officials said.

- New British strain -

On Saturday the streets of the Australian city of Brisbane were quiet as its more than two million residents were ordered back into lockdown, after authorities detected a single infection of the new strain from Britain.

"Quite surreal, like something from a movie set," local man Scott told AFP in Brisbane's deserted downtown, though he added: "It's necessary."

And Israel said four people had tested positive for the new South African strain, which is also more infectious than the original. It had already recorded the new British variant.

In China, where the original coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, authorities also tightened restrictions on two cities near Beijing to stamp out a growing cluster.

The new week-long stay at home orders affecting about 18 million people in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai come as cases spike ahead of the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions criss-cross the country to visit family and friends.

On Saturday Beijing's National Health Commission said authorities had so far given out more than nine million vaccine doses, but warned the upcoming holiday would "further boost the risk of transmission."

China also said Saturday that preparations were still ongoing for a WHO mission to Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid-19, following a rare rebuke from the UN body over a delay to the long-planned trip.

"As long as these experts complete the procedures and confirm their schedule, we will go to Wuhan together to carry out investigations," National Health Commission vice minister Zeng Yixin told reporters.

Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, as the UK reported it had surpassed more than three million cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, as the UK reported it had surpassed more than three million cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago. More than 1.9 million people worldwide have now died from the virus, with new variants adding to soaring cases and prompting the re-introduction of restrictions on movement across the globe -- even as some countries begin mass inoculation campaigns. Pope Francis urged people to get the vaccination, calling opposition to the jab "suicidal denial" and saying he would get inoculated against the virus himself next week when the Vatican would begin its campaign. "There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated," the pontiff said in segments from an interview with Canale 5 due to be broadcast in full on Sunday. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip received their Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday, Buckingham Palace said, in a rare public comment on the private health matters of the long-serving monarch. A source told the domestic Press Association news agency that the queen, 94, and Philip, 99, were given the injections by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle. More than 1.5 million people in Britain have so far received virus jabs, as the biggest immunisation programme in its history rolls out with priority given to the elderly, their carers and health workers. Countries across the globe are following suit, starting up massive vaccination campaigns with several coronavirus shots approved so far, including those by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and domestically made jabs from Russia and China. Britain, which has so far administered two types of vaccines, is racing to inoculate as many people as possible as a new variant believed to be more contagious pushes infections and deaths to unprecedented levels. British health authorities on Saturday said the country had recorded more than three million coronavirus infections since the pandemic began last year, after the government announced another 59,937 new daily cases. The country also recorded another 1,035 fatalities from the virus, taking the total death toll to 80,868, one of the highest in Europe alongside Italy. Cases also continue to spiral in the United States, the world's worst hit country, which recorded more than 272,000 new cases Saturday. More than 22 million people have been infected and 372,051 have died of Covid-19 in the US since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University. - Tighter restrictions - India will launch one of the world's most ambitious coronavirus free vaccination drives next Saturday, aiming to reach 300 million people by July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. India is the second worst-hit country with more than 10 million cases, though the death rate is one of the world's lowest. Cuba, meanwhile, said it would test its most advanced Covid vaccine candidate in Iran, after Tehran banned the import of already-proven US and British-produced vaccines. Fears have been rising over new virus variants that emerged in Britain and South Africa, but BioNTech brought some relief on Friday, saying its vaccine was effective against a "key mutation" found in the strains. Soaring infections are forcing governments once again to introduce restrictions that helped slow the spread of the virus last year, but battered the global economy and disrupted business, sports and cultural events worldwide. France will extend its Covid-19 curfews to a further eight departments, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Saturday, citing a "tough and necessary" response. After a rise in cases, Burundi will close its land and lakeside borders from Monday and impose a seven-day quarantine on travellers arriving by plane, officials said. - New British strain - On Saturday the streets of the Australian city of Brisbane were quiet as its more than two million residents were ordered back into lockdown, after authorities detected a single infection of the new strain from Britain. "Quite surreal, like something from a movie set," local man Scott told AFP in Brisbane's deserted downtown, though he added: "It's necessary." And Israel said four people had tested positive for the new South African strain, which is also more infectious than the original. It had already recorded the new British variant. In China, where the original coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, authorities also tightened restrictions on two cities near Beijing to stamp out a growing cluster. The new week-long stay at home orders affecting about 18 million people in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai come as cases spike ahead of the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions criss-cross the country to visit family and friends. On Saturday Beijing's National Health Commission said authorities had so far given out more than nine million vaccine doses, but warned the upcoming holiday would "further boost the risk of transmission." China also said Saturday that preparations were still ongoing for a WHO mission to Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid-19, following a rare rebuke from the UN body over a delay to the long-planned trip. "As long as these experts complete the procedures and confirm their schedule, we will go to Wuhan together to carry out investigations," National Health Commission vice minister Zeng Yixin told reporters.

UK tops 3 million Covid cases, Pope, Queen Elizabeth join vaccine drive

The United Kingdom is vaccinating 200,000 people against coronavirus every day, with plans to immunise two million people every week.

UK's Health Minister Matt Hancock said that with two million inoculations a week, the country would be able to cover the most vulnerable by the middle of February.&nbsp;

&nbsp;"At the moment we're running over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day," he told Sky News.

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Hancock also claimed that the country has vaccinated a third of people aged 80 and above, calling it a "significant progress".

"We've now vaccinated around a third of the over-80s in this country, so we are making significant progress, but there's still further expansion to go. This week we are opening mass vaccination centres", he said.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/uk-tops-3-million-covid-cases-pope-queen-elizabeth-join-vaccine-drive-355718" hreflang="en">UK tops 3 million Covid cases, Pope, Queen Elizabeth join vaccine drive</a>

Britain's Queen Elizabeth recently received the coronavirus vaccine, coinciding with the country passing three million cases, roughly a year after the pandemic began.

Over 1.9 million people across the world have died of the coronavirus. As new variants from Britain and South Africa pop up, cases continue to rise. Owing to this, restrictions have been reintroduced in countries around the world.

Many countries including the UK and US have begun mass inoculations.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/uk-sees-record-daily-covid-deaths-london-hospitals-on-brink-355550" hreflang="en">UK sees record daily COVID deaths, London hospitals on brink</a> 
 
On Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II along with her husband Prince Philip received COVID-19 vaccinations, as stated by the Buckingham Palace.

At least 1.5 million people in the UK have received the shots so far, as reported by AFP. This marks the biggest inoculation programme in the country's history, which has prioritised the elderly, their caregivers, as well as healthcare workers. 
 
Britain has so far administered two coronavirus vaccines - one by Pfizer-BioNTech, and the other by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. With the new variants, which are way more infectious, in the picture, the country is racing against time to immunise as many people as possible to bring down the infection rate.

The United Kingdom is vaccinating 200,000 people against coronavirus every day, with plans to immunise two million people every week. UK's Health Minister Matt Hancock said that with two million inoculations a week, the country would be able to cover the most vulnerable by the middle of February.

The United Kingdom is vaccinating 200,000 people against coronavirus every day, with plans to immunise two million people every week. UK's Health Minister Matt Hancock said that with two million inoculations a week, the country would be able to cover the most vulnerable by the middle of February. "At the moment we're running over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day," he told Sky News. Hancock also claimed that the country has vaccinated a third of people aged 80 and above, calling it a "significant progress". "We've now vaccinated around a third of the over-80s in this country, so we are making significant progress, but there's still further expansion to go. This week we are opening mass vaccination centres", he said. Also read: UK tops 3 million Covid cases, Pope, Queen Elizabeth join vaccine drive Britain's Queen Elizabeth recently received the coronavirus vaccine, coinciding with the country passing three million cases, roughly a year after the pandemic began. Over 1.9 million people across the world have died of the coronavirus. As new variants from Britain and South Africa pop up, cases continue to rise. Owing to this, restrictions have been reintroduced in countries around the world. Many countries including the UK and US have begun mass inoculations. Also read: UK sees record daily COVID deaths, London hospitals on brink On Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II along with her husband Prince Philip received COVID-19 vaccinations, as stated by the Buckingham Palace. At least 1.5 million people in the UK have received the shots so far, as reported by AFP. This marks the biggest inoculation programme in the country's history, which has prioritised the elderly, their caregivers, as well as healthcare workers. Britain has so far administered two coronavirus vaccines - one by Pfizer-BioNTech, and the other by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. With the new variants, which are way more infectious, in the picture, the country is racing against time to immunise as many people as possible to bring down the infection rate.

UK vaccinating 200,000 people against COVID-19 everyday, claims health minister

Former One Direction member and singer Liam Payne opened up about the difficulty of co-parenting his child amid the coronavirus pandemic, recently.

During an Instagram Live, the 27-year-old explained to producer Ben Winston that seeing his son Bear Grey has been "complicated" as the 3½-year-old is currently staying with his mom Cheryl. He added that he gets tested for COVID-19 before visiting his son. 
 
"I went and saw Bear today. We had a little hangout which was quite nice as I hadn`t seen him in a couple of weeks," Payne said. 
 
Payne co-parents his son with former partner Cheryl after the pair split in July 2018. Payne admitted that visiting his son is "hard with the COVID thing". 
 
"It`s hard with the COVID thing as I have to make sure I`m negative before I go over and see him so it`s having to wait that couple of days before you can test so... he`s only up the street and it`s dead complicated but he`s gotten so big, huge," he added.

Despite his son being "only up the street," Payne said the co-parenting situation has been "dead complicated." The star, who recently proposed to model Maya Henry, also noted that his son has "gotten so big."

"He's huge," he shared.

Payne told PEOPLE last month that it's been a bizarre experience seeing his child become a fully-formed human. "It`s been a difficult ride, but it`s fantastic watching him grow into the person he`s become. He`s a really lovely boy and I feel like he`s in the middle of settling into himself," he said. 
 
"He looks exactly like me, which is very strange. When family members see baby pictures of me now, they say, `Oh wow, Bear looks really great there!` " Payne added. 
 
&nbsp;

Former One Direction member and singer Liam Payne opened up about the difficulty of co-parenting his child amid the coronavirus pandemic, recently. During an Instagram Live, the 27-year-old explained to producer Ben Winston that seeing his son Bear Grey has been "complicated" as the 3½-year-old is currently staying with his mom Cheryl.

Former One Direction member and singer Liam Payne opened up about the difficulty of co-parenting his child amid the coronavirus pandemic, recently. During an Instagram Live, the 27-year-old explained to producer Ben Winston that seeing his son Bear Grey has been "complicated" as the 3½-year-old is currently staying with his mom Cheryl. He added that he gets tested for COVID-19 before visiting his son. "I went and saw Bear today. We had a little hangout which was quite nice as I hadn`t seen him in a couple of weeks," Payne said. Payne co-parents his son with former partner Cheryl after the pair split in July 2018. Payne admitted that visiting his son is "hard with the COVID thing". "It`s hard with the COVID thing as I have to make sure I`m negative before I go over and see him so it`s having to wait that couple of days before you can test so... he`s only up the street and it`s dead complicated but he`s gotten so big, huge," he added. Despite his son being "only up the street," Payne said the co-parenting situation has been "dead complicated." The star, who recently proposed to model Maya Henry, also noted that his son has "gotten so big." "He's huge," he shared. Payne told PEOPLE last month that it's been a bizarre experience seeing his child become a fully-formed human. "It`s been a difficult ride, but it`s fantastic watching him grow into the person he`s become. He`s a really lovely boy and I feel like he`s in the middle of settling into himself," he said. "He looks exactly like me, which is very strange. When family members see baby pictures of me now, they say, `Oh wow, Bear looks really great there!` " Payne added.

Liam Payne opens up about struggles of co-parenting amid COVID-19 pandemic

Just weeks into the country’s coronavirus vaccination effort, states have begun broadening access to the shots faster than planned, amid tremendous public demand and intense criticism about the pace of the rollout.

Some public health officials worry that doing so could bring even more chaos to the complex operation and increase the likelihood that some of the highest-risk Americans will be skipped over. But the debate over how soon to expand eligibility is intensifying as deaths from the virus continue to surge, hospitals are overwhelmed with critically ill patients, and millions of vaccine doses delivered last month remain in freezers.

Governors are under enormous pressure from their constituents — especially older people, who vote in great numbers and face the highest risk of dying from the virus — to get the doses they receive into arms swiftly. President-elect Joe Biden’s decision, announced Friday, to release nearly all available doses to the states when he takes office Jan. 20, rather than holding half to guarantee each recipient gets a booster shot a few weeks after the first, is likely to add to that pressure.

Some states, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, have already expanded who is eligible to get a vaccine now, even though many people in the first priority group recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the nation’s 21 million health care workers and 3 million residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities — have not yet received a shot.

On Friday afternoon, New York became the latest state to do so, announcing that it would allow people 75 and older and certain essential workers to start receiving a vaccine Monday.

But reaching a wider swath of the population requires much more money than states have received for the task, many health officials say, and more time to fine-tune systems for moving surplus vaccine around quickly, to increase the number of vaccination sites and people who give the shots, and to establish reliable appointment systems to prevent endless lines and waits.

Some states’ expansions have led to frantic and often futile efforts by older people to get vaccinated. After Florida opened up vaccinations to anyone 65 and older late last month, the demand was so great that new online registration portals quickly overloaded and crashed, people spent hours on the phone trying to secure appointments, and others waited overnight at scattered pop-up sites offering shots on a first-come, first-served basis.

Similar scenes have played out in parts of Texas, Tennessee and a handful of other states.

Still, with CDC data suggesting that only about one-third of the doses distributed so far have been used, Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, told reporters this past week, “It would be much better to move quickly and end up vaccinating some lower-priority people than to let vaccines sit around while states try to micromanage this process. Faster administration would save lives right now, which means we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

The CDC guidelines were drawn up by an independent committee of medical and public health experts that advises the agency on immunization practices; it deliberated for months about who should get vaccinated initially, while supplies were still very limited. The committee weighed scientific evidence about who is most at risk of getting very sick or dying from COVID-19, as well as ethical questions, such as how best to ensure equal access among different races and socioeconomic groups.

Although the committee’s recommendations are nonbinding, states usually follow them; in this case, the committee suggests that states might consider expanding to additional priority groups “when demand in the current phase appears to have been met,” “when supply of authorized vaccine increases substantially” or “when vaccine supply within a certain location is in danger of going unused.”

Dr. Kevin Ault, an obstetrician at the University of Kansas Medical Center who serves on the advisory committee that came up with the CDC guidelines, said that it was reasonable for states to start vaccinating new groups before finishing others but that they should be careful about exacerbating inequities and biting off more than they can chew.

“Obviously if you’re going to vaccinate that group, you need to have a well-thought-out plan in hand,” he said, referring to the over-65 population. “Having people camping out for vaccine is less than ideal, I would say.”

He added, “We put a lot of thought and effort into our guidelines, and I think they are good.”

After the first vaccines were given in mid-December, a dichotomy emerged between governors who were adhering precisely to the guidelines and others who moved quickly to populations beyond health care workers and nursing home residents.

Until Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, had threatened to penalize hospitals that provided shots to people who are not health care workers. By contrast, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, traveled to retirement communities around his state to emphasize the importance of getting people 65 and older, who number more than 5 million there, immunized fast.

“In Florida we’ve got to put our parents and grandparents first,” DeSantis said at The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, just before Christmas.

Decisions on how soon to expand eligibility for the shots have not fallen neatly along partisan lines.

Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, announced Tuesday that he would immediately switch to what he called the “Southwest Airlines model” for vaccine allocation, referring to the airline’s open seating policy. “We’re no longer going to be waiting for all the members of a particular priority group to be completed,” he said, “before we move on to begin the next group in line.”

Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, urged patience in a news briefing Tuesday as he declined to estimate when the state would start vaccinating people beyond the first priority group, known as “1a.”

“We’re asking every health department, ‘Don’t go outside 1a; stay within your lane,’” he said, adding about the vaccines, “This is a scarce commodity.”

By Thursday DeWine had set a date for people 80 and older to start getting the vaccine — Jan. 19 — and said he would phase in everyone 65 and older, as well as teachers, by Feb. 8.

The reasons so many doses received by states have not yet been administered to the first priority group are manifold. The fact that vaccination began around Christmas, when many hospital employees were taking vacation, slowed things. More health care workers are refusing to get the vaccine than many of their employers expected, and some hospitals and clinics received more doses than they needed but felt constrained by state rules from giving them to people outside the first priority groups. Some initially worried they could not even offer leftover doses in open vials to people in lower priority groups and let them go to waste.

And federal funding for vaccination efforts has been slow to reach states and localities: They got only $350 million through the end of last year, a little more than $1 per resident of the country. The economic rescue package that Congress passed in December included $8 billion for vaccine distribution that state health officials had long sought, but the first tranche of it, about $3 billion, is only now starting to be sent out.

“There was great funding in the development of these products, great funding in the infrastructure to ship them and get them out,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health. “But then there was no funding provided of meaning for administering the vaccine, which is the last mile of this journey.”

The CDC has recommended that a “1b” group consisting of people 75 and older and certain essential workers, including teachers, corrections officers and grocery store employees, be vaccinated next. The second group is much larger, about 50 million people. And the third recommended priority group — people 65 to 74, anyone 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions, and essential workers not already reached — numbers almost 130 million.

Pfizer and Moderna have pledged to deliver enough vaccine doses for 100 million people to each get the two necessary shots by the end of March, and many more in the second quarter. Several other vaccine candidates are far along in the pipeline and, if approved for emergency use here, could help ramp up distribution more quickly.

The CDC committee initially considered recommending that a wide range of essential workers get vaccinated before older Americans. Its rationale was that many essential workers are low-wage people of color, who have been hit disproportionately hard by the virus and had limited access to good health care. That sparked a backlash, and several governors, including DeSantis, quickly made clear they would cater to older people first.

Dr. Mark McClellan, who formerly headed the FDA and now runs Duke University’s health policy center, said that while pushing ahead to vaccinate older people and other particularly vulnerable groups would accelerate the overall effort, “we’re going to be missing a lot of higher-risk individuals along the way.”

“I do worry about that becoming uneven in terms of access,” he said during a press briefing, “with lower-income groups, minority groups maybe in a tougher position if we don’t make it very easy for people in these high-risk groups to get vaccinated.”

Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said he was surprised to hear federal officials like Azar and Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, advocate expanding vaccine access so broadly so soon.

“We didn’t come up with priority populations to slow things down but because we knew there would be limited numbers of doses,” Plescia said. “If we try to do this in an equitable, fair way, it’s not going to be as fast as if our only goal is to get vaccine into as many arms as possible.”

Whether or not they are widening access now, governors are ramping up pressure on hospitals to use their allocated doses more quickly. Cuomo threatened to fine those that did not use their initial allocations by the end of this past week and not send them any more.

Hogan warned hospitals this past week, “Either use the doses that have been allocated to you, or they will be directed to another facility or provider.”

Just weeks into the country’s coronavirus vaccination effort, states have begun broadening access to the shots faster than planned, amid tremendous public demand and intense criticism about the pace of the rollout.

Just weeks into the country’s coronavirus vaccination effort, states have begun broadening access to the shots faster than planned, amid tremendous public demand and intense criticism about the pace of the rollout. Some public health officials worry that doing so could bring even more chaos to the complex operation and increase the likelihood that some of the highest-risk Americans will be skipped over. But the debate over how soon to expand eligibility is intensifying as deaths from the virus continue to surge, hospitals are overwhelmed with critically ill patients, and millions of vaccine doses delivered last month remain in freezers. Governors are under enormous pressure from their constituents — especially older people, who vote in great numbers and face the highest risk of dying from the virus — to get the doses they receive into arms swiftly. President-elect Joe Biden’s decision, announced Friday, to release nearly all available doses to the states when he takes office Jan. 20, rather than holding half to guarantee each recipient gets a booster shot a few weeks after the first, is likely to add to that pressure. Some states, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, have already expanded who is eligible to get a vaccine now, even though many people in the first priority group recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the nation’s 21 million health care workers and 3 million residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities — have not yet received a shot. On Friday afternoon, New York became the latest state to do so, announcing that it would allow people 75 and older and certain essential workers to start receiving a vaccine Monday. But reaching a wider swath of the population requires much more money than states have received for the task, many health officials say, and more time to fine-tune systems for moving surplus vaccine around quickly, to increase the number of vaccination sites and people who give the shots, and to establish reliable appointment systems to prevent endless lines and waits. Some states’ expansions have led to frantic and often futile efforts by older people to get vaccinated. After Florida opened up vaccinations to anyone 65 and older late last month, the demand was so great that new online registration portals quickly overloaded and crashed, people spent hours on the phone trying to secure appointments, and others waited overnight at scattered pop-up sites offering shots on a first-come, first-served basis. Similar scenes have played out in parts of Texas, Tennessee and a handful of other states. Still, with CDC data suggesting that only about one-third of the doses distributed so far have been used, Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, told reporters this past week, “It would be much better to move quickly and end up vaccinating some lower-priority people than to let vaccines sit around while states try to micromanage this process. Faster administration would save lives right now, which means we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” The CDC guidelines were drawn up by an independent committee of medical and public health experts that advises the agency on immunization practices; it deliberated for months about who should get vaccinated initially, while supplies were still very limited. The committee weighed scientific evidence about who is most at risk of getting very sick or dying from COVID-19, as well as ethical questions, such as how best to ensure equal access among different races and socioeconomic groups. Although the committee’s recommendations are nonbinding, states usually follow them; in this case, the committee suggests that states might consider expanding to additional priority groups “when demand in the current phase appears to have been met,” “when supply of authorized vaccine increases substantially” or “when vaccine supply within a certain location is in danger of going unused.” Dr. Kevin Ault, an obstetrician at the University of Kansas Medical Center who serves on the advisory committee that came up with the CDC guidelines, said that it was reasonable for states to start vaccinating new groups before finishing others but that they should be careful about exacerbating inequities and biting off more than they can chew. “Obviously if you’re going to vaccinate that group, you need to have a well-thought-out plan in hand,” he said, referring to the over-65 population. “Having people camping out for vaccine is less than ideal, I would say.” He added, “We put a lot of thought and effort into our guidelines, and I think they are good.” After the first vaccines were given in mid-December, a dichotomy emerged between governors who were adhering precisely to the guidelines and others who moved quickly to populations beyond health care workers and nursing home residents. Until Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, had threatened to penalize hospitals that provided shots to people who are not health care workers. By contrast, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, traveled to retirement communities around his state to emphasize the importance of getting people 65 and older, who number more than 5 million there, immunized fast. “In Florida we’ve got to put our parents and grandparents first,” DeSantis said at The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, just before Christmas. Decisions on how soon to expand eligibility for the shots have not fallen neatly along partisan lines. Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, announced Tuesday that he would immediately switch to what he called the “Southwest Airlines model” for vaccine allocation, referring to the airline’s open seating policy. “We’re no longer going to be waiting for all the members of a particular priority group to be completed,” he said, “before we move on to begin the next group in line.” Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, urged patience in a news briefing Tuesday as he declined to estimate when the state would start vaccinating people beyond the first priority group, known as “1a.” “We’re asking every health department, ‘Don’t go outside 1a; stay within your lane,’” he said, adding about the vaccines, “This is a scarce commodity.” By Thursday DeWine had set a date for people 80 and older to start getting the vaccine — Jan. 19 — and said he would phase in everyone 65 and older, as well as teachers, by Feb. 8. The reasons so many doses received by states have not yet been administered to the first priority group are manifold. The fact that vaccination began around Christmas, when many hospital employees were taking vacation, slowed things. More health care workers are refusing to get the vaccine than many of their employers expected, and some hospitals and clinics received more doses than they needed but felt constrained by state rules from giving them to people outside the first priority groups. Some initially worried they could not even offer leftover doses in open vials to people in lower priority groups and let them go to waste. And federal funding for vaccination efforts has been slow to reach states and localities: They got only $350 million through the end of last year, a little more than $1 per resident of the country. The economic rescue package that Congress passed in December included $8 billion for vaccine distribution that state health officials had long sought, but the first tranche of it, about $3 billion, is only now starting to be sent out. “There was great funding in the development of these products, great funding in the infrastructure to ship them and get them out,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health. “But then there was no funding provided of meaning for administering the vaccine, which is the last mile of this journey.” The CDC has recommended that a “1b” group consisting of people 75 and older and certain essential workers, including teachers, corrections officers and grocery store employees, be vaccinated next. The second group is much larger, about 50 million people. And the third recommended priority group — people 65 to 74, anyone 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions, and essential workers not already reached — numbers almost 130 million. Pfizer and Moderna have pledged to deliver enough vaccine doses for 100 million people to each get the two necessary shots by the end of March, and many more in the second quarter. Several other vaccine candidates are far along in the pipeline and, if approved for emergency use here, could help ramp up distribution more quickly. The CDC committee initially considered recommending that a wide range of essential workers get vaccinated before older Americans. Its rationale was that many essential workers are low-wage people of color, who have been hit disproportionately hard by the virus and had limited access to good health care. That sparked a backlash, and several governors, including DeSantis, quickly made clear they would cater to older people first. Dr. Mark McClellan, who formerly headed the FDA and now runs Duke University’s health policy center, said that while pushing ahead to vaccinate older people and other particularly vulnerable groups would accelerate the overall effort, “we’re going to be missing a lot of higher-risk individuals along the way.” “I do worry about that becoming uneven in terms of access,” he said during a press briefing, “with lower-income groups, minority groups maybe in a tougher position if we don’t make it very easy for people in these high-risk groups to get vaccinated.” Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said he was surprised to hear federal officials like Azar and Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, advocate expanding vaccine access so broadly so soon. “We didn’t come up with priority populations to slow things down but because we knew there would be limited numbers of doses,” Plescia said. “If we try to do this in an equitable, fair way, it’s not going to be as fast as if our only goal is to get vaccine into as many arms as possible.” Whether or not they are widening access now, governors are ramping up pressure on hospitals to use their allocated doses more quickly. Cuomo threatened to fine those that did not use their initial allocations by the end of this past week and not send them any more. Hogan warned hospitals this past week, “Either use the doses that have been allocated to you, or they will be directed to another facility or provider.”

Pressure grows for states to open vaccines to more groups of people

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the nation would continue to export medicines including vaccines.

India is currently developing two indigenous COVID-19 vaccines.

In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention, Modi said the country is among the nations with the lowest fatality rate and the highest recovery rate, adding India is ready with not one but two made-in-India coronavirus vaccines for the protection of humanity.

"Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now. The world is not only waiting for Indian vaccines but is also watching how India runs the world biggest vaccination programme," he said.

Modi also said that during the pandemic, Indians showed their capabilities and the way the country stood together was unparalleled.

He said India is using technology to defeat corruption and crores of rupees are being directly transferred to beneficiaries' bank accounts.

"Today we have been connected with the internet from various corners of the world but our minds are always connected with 'Maa Bharti'," he said.

"I have had a dialogue with several heads of states who told me how Indian diaspora has extended a helping hand in those countries and provided leadership in extending assistance even in these difficult times," Modi said.

"This was a matter of pride for me."

He also lauded the Indian diaspora for providing assistance in the battle against coronavirus in India.

Modi told the Indian diaspora that the country always stands with them and pointed out that over 45 lakh people were rescued under the government's Vande Bharat mission during the pandemic.

Modi also asserted that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India.

"When India got Independence then it was said that such a poor and under-literate country will disintegrate and democracy was impossible here. Today's truth is that India is united and if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the nation would continue to export medicines including vaccines. India is currently developing two indigenous COVID-19 vaccines.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the nation would continue to export medicines including vaccines. India is currently developing two indigenous COVID-19 vaccines. In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention, Modi said the country is among the nations with the lowest fatality rate and the highest recovery rate, adding India is ready with not one but two made-in-India coronavirus vaccines for the protection of humanity. "Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now. The world is not only waiting for Indian vaccines but is also watching how India runs the world biggest vaccination programme," he said. Modi also said that during the pandemic, Indians showed their capabilities and the way the country stood together was unparalleled. He said India is using technology to defeat corruption and crores of rupees are being directly transferred to beneficiaries' bank accounts. "Today we have been connected with the internet from various corners of the world but our minds are always connected with 'Maa Bharti'," he said. "I have had a dialogue with several heads of states who told me how Indian diaspora has extended a helping hand in those countries and provided leadership in extending assistance even in these difficult times," Modi said. "This was a matter of pride for me." He also lauded the Indian diaspora for providing assistance in the battle against coronavirus in India. Modi told the Indian diaspora that the country always stands with them and pointed out that over 45 lakh people were rescued under the government's Vande Bharat mission during the pandemic. Modi also asserted that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India. "When India got Independence then it was said that such a poor and under-literate country will disintegrate and democracy was impossible here. Today's truth is that India is united and if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India," he said.

India will continue export of medicines, including vaccines: PM Modi

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote.

On Friday, while speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Biden also directed his angst at how Trump had&nbsp;been leading the US for four years, and how his administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a disappointment.

Biden slammed the Trump administration's distribution of Covid-19 vaccines as a "travesty," and announced a plan to speed up rollout that could delay people's second dose.

"Vaccines give us hope, but the roll-out has been a travesty," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.

He said distribution of the vaccine would be "the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a nation."

More than 365,000 people have died from the coronavirus in America, the world's hardest-hit country, including some 4,000 on Thursday alone.

Biden's comments came shortly after a spokesman said the new administration planned to release every available dose of Covid-19 vaccine produced in the country, rather than holding back half the supply to make sure people receive their booster shots on time.

But it was not clear how this plan would address the problem, since the main bottleneck in the US currently is not scarcity of vaccines, but rather the slow administration of shots by providers.

Around six million Americans have so far received their first shot, even though the target for December alone had been 20 million.

Biden also welcomed Trump's announcement that he wouldn't attend the January 20 inauguration, calling it a "good thing."

"I was told on the way over here that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on," Biden said, adding, "it's a good thing, him not showing up."

"He's been an embarrassment to the country," Biden said.

"He's not fit to serve," the president-elect added of Trump, who is facing the possibility of being impeached next week for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol.

"He exceeded even my worst notions about him," Biden said.&nbsp;

"He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America."

Biden said Vice-President Mike Pence would be welcome at his inauguration.

Meanwhile, Trump -- for the first time ever -- acknowledged Biden won, on Thursday, but said he would not attend the January 20 inauguration.

Trump's bowing down to the results came shortly after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday night, drawing sharp criticism from across the world.

To this end, Biden said those who stormed the US Capitol were a bunch of thugs, white supremacists, domestic terrorists and they should be prosecuted.

Biden said the authorities had to be held accountable for the failures that occurred and it had to be made sure that this could never, ever happen again.

"They should be treated as they're a bunch of thugs, insurrectionist, white supremacists, and anti-Semites, and it's not enough.

"These are bunch of thugs, thugs and their terrorists, domestic terrorists. And that'll be a judgment for the Justice Department to make as to what the charges should be...

"They should be prosecuted," he said in response to a question.

Biden sought an investigation into purported pictures of the Capitol Police personnel taking selfies with the protesters.

(with inputs)

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote.

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote. On Friday, while speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Biden also directed his angst at how Trump had been leading the US for four years, and how his administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a disappointment. Biden slammed the Trump administration's distribution of Covid-19 vaccines as a "travesty," and announced a plan to speed up rollout that could delay people's second dose. "Vaccines give us hope, but the roll-out has been a travesty," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. He said distribution of the vaccine would be "the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a nation." More than 365,000 people have died from the coronavirus in America, the world's hardest-hit country, including some 4,000 on Thursday alone. Biden's comments came shortly after a spokesman said the new administration planned to release every available dose of Covid-19 vaccine produced in the country, rather than holding back half the supply to make sure people receive their booster shots on time. But it was not clear how this plan would address the problem, since the main bottleneck in the US currently is not scarcity of vaccines, but rather the slow administration of shots by providers. Around six million Americans have so far received their first shot, even though the target for December alone had been 20 million. Biden also welcomed Trump's announcement that he wouldn't attend the January 20 inauguration, calling it a "good thing." "I was told on the way over here that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on," Biden said, adding, "it's a good thing, him not showing up." "He's been an embarrassment to the country," Biden said. "He's not fit to serve," the president-elect added of Trump, who is facing the possibility of being impeached next week for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol. "He exceeded even my worst notions about him," Biden said. "He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America." Biden said Vice-President Mike Pence would be welcome at his inauguration. Meanwhile, Trump -- for the first time ever -- acknowledged Biden won, on Thursday, but said he would not attend the January 20 inauguration. Trump's bowing down to the results came shortly after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday night, drawing sharp criticism from across the world. To this end, Biden said those who stormed the US Capitol were a bunch of thugs, white supremacists, domestic terrorists and they should be prosecuted. Biden said the authorities had to be held accountable for the failures that occurred and it had to be made sure that this could never, ever happen again. "They should be treated as they're a bunch of thugs, insurrectionist, white supremacists, and anti-Semites, and it's not enough. "These are bunch of thugs, thugs and their terrorists, domestic terrorists. And that'll be a judgment for the Justice Department to make as to what the charges should be... "They should be prosecuted," he said in response to a question. Biden sought an investigation into purported pictures of the Capitol Police personnel taking selfies with the protesters. (with inputs)

Biden likes Trump's decision to skip inauguration, slams vaccine rollout

The United States hit a new record for&nbsp;coronavirus cases Friday, notching nearly 290,000 in a span of 24 hours.

The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded 3,676 virus deaths in the same day.

The day before, the US had recorded a record of nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours.

The world's largest economy has recorded 21.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 368,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Some 131,000 people are currently hospitalised in the US for Covid-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The country is ultimately counting on a massive vaccination campaign begun in mid-December to bring the health crisis to an end. But the effort is running behind, with just under six million people having received the first of two injections in the country of 330 million.

The United States hit a new record for coronavirus cases Friday, notching nearly 290,000 in a span of 24 hours. The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded 3,676 virus deaths in the same day.

The United States hit a new record for coronavirus cases Friday, notching nearly 290,000 in a span of 24 hours. The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded 3,676 virus deaths in the same day. The day before, the US had recorded a record of nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours. The world's largest economy has recorded 21.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 368,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Some 131,000 people are currently hospitalised in the US for Covid-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The country is ultimately counting on a massive vaccination campaign begun in mid-December to bring the health crisis to an end. But the effort is running behind, with just under six million people having received the first of two injections in the country of 330 million.

US sets new record with nearly 290,000 Covid cases in 24 hours

Delhi recorded 519 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the third time the daily incidences count stood above the 500-mark in January, even as the positivity rate remained much below one per cent. 
 
The infection tally in the city stood at 6.29 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,666, they said. This month, 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 494 on January 2; 424 on January 3; 384 on January 4, and 442 on January 5; 654 on January 6; 486 on January 7 and 444 on January 8. 
 
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that the positivity rate had been below one per cent for the past several days, indicating improvement in the pandemic situation here. On December 29 and 30, the city had recorded 703 and 677 cases, respectively. On December 31, 574 cases were recorded. 
 
These 519 new cases came out the 80,275 tests conducted the previous day, including 45,079 RT-PCR tests and 35,196 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The active cases tally on Saturday stood at 3,683, while the positivity rate was recorded at 0.65 per cent. The bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 6,29,801.

Delhi recorded 519 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the third time the daily incidences count stood above the 500-mark in January, even as the positivity rate remained much below one per cent.

Delhi recorded 519 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the third time the daily incidences count stood above the 500-mark in January, even as the positivity rate remained much below one per cent. The infection tally in the city stood at 6.29 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,666, they said. This month, 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 494 on January 2; 424 on January 3; 384 on January 4, and 442 on January 5; 654 on January 6; 486 on January 7 and 444 on January 8. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that the positivity rate had been below one per cent for the past several days, indicating improvement in the pandemic situation here. On December 29 and 30, the city had recorded 703 and 677 cases, respectively. On December 31, 574 cases were recorded. These 519 new cases came out the 80,275 tests conducted the previous day, including 45,079 RT-PCR tests and 35,196 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The active cases tally on Saturday stood at 3,683, while the positivity rate was recorded at 0.65 per cent. The bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 6,29,801.

Delhi registers over 500 new cases of coronavirus; positivity rate below 1%

A&nbsp; 56-year-old&nbsp;doctor from Florida died two weeks after he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech. The cause of his death was ruled to be&nbsp;a rare blood disorder.

Dr. Gregory Michael, an&nbsp;obstetrician-gynaecologist, lost his life 16 days after getting the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech coronavirus vaccine, which was the first to be approved in the United States.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/watch-us-nurse-passes-out-after-getting-pfizer-biontechs-covid-19-vaccine-350712">Watch| US nurse passes out after getting Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine</a>

Following his death, the&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),&nbsp;the Florida Health Department and the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office have launched an investigation into the matter.&nbsp;

"The cause of death is pending the completion of studies being done by the medical examiner and the Centers for Disease Control," said&nbsp;office’s director, Darren Caprara. "The case is still under investigation, so nothing has been finalized."

While a direct link to the vaccine has not been established yet, it is also not being completely ruled out by the local health authorities. Michael's condition is linked to a rare condition that affects the body’s ability to clot blood.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/indonesian-clerics-declare-sinovacs-vaccine-halal-355617">WATCH|</a>

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Pfizer has also started an independent investigation in this matter and has admitted that the doctor's death was caused due to a "highly unusual clinical case of severe thrombocytopenia", and also hinted that till now their researchers believe there is a very less chance that&nbsp;"there is any direct connection to the vaccine."

The news has come a few days after it was revealed that a&nbsp;paediatric surgery assistant in Port also lost her life two days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Although,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/portuguese-nurse-dies-two-days-after-getting-the-pfizer-covid-vaccine-354526">Sonia Acevedo</a>, 41, who worked in paediatrics at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, had not shown any side-effects after being administered the vaccine.

A 56-year-old doctor from Florida died two weeks after he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech. The cause of his death was ruled to be a rare blood disorder.

A 56-year-old doctor from Florida died two weeks after he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech. The cause of his death was ruled to be a rare blood disorder. Dr. Gregory Michael, an obstetrician-gynaecologist, lost his life 16 days after getting the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech coronavirus vaccine, which was the first to be approved in the United States. Watch| US nurse passes out after getting Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine Following his death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Florida Health Department and the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office have launched an investigation into the matter. "The cause of death is pending the completion of studies being done by the medical examiner and the Centers for Disease Control," said office’s director, Darren Caprara. "The case is still under investigation, so nothing has been finalized." While a direct link to the vaccine has not been established yet, it is also not being completely ruled out by the local health authorities. Michael's condition is linked to a rare condition that affects the body’s ability to clot blood. WATCH| × Pfizer has also started an independent investigation in this matter and has admitted that the doctor's death was caused due to a "highly unusual clinical case of severe thrombocytopenia", and also hinted that till now their researchers believe there is a very less chance that "there is any direct connection to the vaccine." The news has come a few days after it was revealed that a paediatric surgery assistant in Port also lost her life two days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Although, Sonia Acevedo, 41, who worked in paediatrics at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, had not shown any side-effects after being administered the vaccine.

Miami doctor dies after taking Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine; CDC launches investigation

Australia has been put on high alert again after cases of new variants of coronavirus were spotted in the country. The new variants, from Britain and South Africa are considered more infectious than the original strain from China.

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A strict three-day long lockdown was imposed in Queensland's capital Brisbane after one of the new strains was spotted in the city. While Queensland has the strain from Britain, Australia's largest city - Sydney has the South African variant.&nbsp;

Compared to other advanced economies, Australia has done a better job of tackling the pandemic. Currently, the total infections in the country stand at 28,600, with 909 deaths.&nbsp;

At some point in the last few months, every state has recorded zero cases of coronavirus.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/covid-vaccination-in-australia-to-begin-in-february-354997" hreflang="en">Covid vaccination in Australia to begin in February</a>

The new variants of the virus have forced the government to reimpose strict measures against the spread of new variants. On Friday, the government cut down the number of travellers coming in from overseas. In addition, negative coronavirus tests are now mandatory for people coming into the country, with more testing to follow at local quarantine centres.

"So long as people are travelling, the risk of the virus seeping into the community is already there," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said during a news conference.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/australia-vows-to-restore-order-on-immigration-detention-island-354777" hreflang="en">Australia vows to 'restore order' on immigration detention island</a>

"Anything we can do to reduce that risk is really important, especially now when we understand what these strains are doing, and all the experts advise in due course that these mutated strains will become the dominant strain", Berejiklian added.

In March 2020, the country closed its borders, and slowly allowed a limited number of citizens to return. Upon returning, all of them were put into a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine.

On Saturday, the country's largest state - New South Wales reported a community transmitted case of the virus, right before a three-week lockdown ends for people in Sydney's northern areas which was sealed off after an outbreak in December. 
&nbsp;

Australia has been put on high alert again after cases of new variants of coronavirus were spotted in the country. The new variants, from Britain and South Africa are considered more infectious than the original strain from China.

Australia has been put on high alert again after cases of new variants of coronavirus were spotted in the country. The new variants, from Britain and South Africa are considered more infectious than the original strain from China. A strict three-day long lockdown was imposed in Queensland's capital Brisbane after one of the new strains was spotted in the city. While Queensland has the strain from Britain, Australia's largest city - Sydney has the South African variant. Compared to other advanced economies, Australia has done a better job of tackling the pandemic. Currently, the total infections in the country stand at 28,600, with 909 deaths. At some point in the last few months, every state has recorded zero cases of coronavirus. Also read: Covid vaccination in Australia to begin in February The new variants of the virus have forced the government to reimpose strict measures against the spread of new variants. On Friday, the government cut down the number of travellers coming in from overseas. In addition, negative coronavirus tests are now mandatory for people coming into the country, with more testing to follow at local quarantine centres. "So long as people are travelling, the risk of the virus seeping into the community is already there," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said during a news conference. Also read: Australia vows to 'restore order' on immigration detention island "Anything we can do to reduce that risk is really important, especially now when we understand what these strains are doing, and all the experts advise in due course that these mutated strains will become the dominant strain", Berejiklian added. In March 2020, the country closed its borders, and slowly allowed a limited number of citizens to return. Upon returning, all of them were put into a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine. On Saturday, the country's largest state - New South Wales reported a community transmitted case of the virus, right before a three-week lockdown ends for people in Sydney's northern areas which was sealed off after an outbreak in December.

Australia on high alert after registering cases of new variants from Britain, South Africa

Iran has officially banned all foreign companies from testing coronavirus vaccines on its people. This comes in a day after President Hassan Rouhani, Iran's Supreme Leader banned imports of vaccines from the United States and Britain. 
 
"Foreign companies wanted to give us vaccines so they would be tested on the Iranian people. But the health ministry prevented it," Rouhani said in a televised appearance. Rouhani did not directly name the companies, and did not offer more details.

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"Our people will not be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies," he added.&nbsp;

But this does not mean that the country is shunning foreign vaccines altogether. Rouhani added that the country intends to purchase safe foreign vaccines.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/iranian-supreme-leader-announces-ban-of-covid-19-vaccines-from-us-uk-355450" hreflang="en">Iranian Supreme Leader announces ban on Covid-19 vaccines from US, UK</a>

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country's highest authority on Friday said that the US and Britain were ''untrustworthy'', and wanted to spread the coronavirus infection to other countries. 
 
Khamenei did add that the country is planning to obtain vaccines from other "reliable places", without naming any specific countries.

China and Russia, who are both producing indigenous vaccines are considered allies of Iran, which remains the hardest hit Middle Eastern country.

Khamenei made the same claims on Twitter, after which his post was removed by the company for violating the platform's rules against misinformation.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/iran-in-no-rush-to-see-us-return-to-nuclear-deal-khamenei-355376" hreflang="en">Iran in no rush to see US return to nuclear deal: Khamenei</a>

Last month, the country launched trials of its first local coronavirus vaccine candidate. The country claimed that this would help derail the virus, amid US sanctions that prevent the country from importing vaccines.

Since 2018, tensions between Iran and the US have heightened after Trump abandoned a nuclear deal from 2015, after which he reimposed sanctions on the country.

Iran has officially banned all foreign companies from testing coronavirus vaccines on its people. This comes in a day after President Hassan Rouhani, Iran's Supreme Leader banned imports of vaccines from the United States and Britain.

Iran has officially banned all foreign companies from testing coronavirus vaccines on its people. This comes in a day after President Hassan Rouhani, Iran's Supreme Leader banned imports of vaccines from the United States and Britain. "Foreign companies wanted to give us vaccines so they would be tested on the Iranian people. But the health ministry prevented it," Rouhani said in a televised appearance. Rouhani did not directly name the companies, and did not offer more details. "Our people will not be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies," he added. But this does not mean that the country is shunning foreign vaccines altogether. Rouhani added that the country intends to purchase safe foreign vaccines. Also read: Iranian Supreme Leader announces ban on Covid-19 vaccines from US, UK Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country's highest authority on Friday said that the US and Britain were ''untrustworthy'', and wanted to spread the coronavirus infection to other countries. Khamenei did add that the country is planning to obtain vaccines from other "reliable places", without naming any specific countries. China and Russia, who are both producing indigenous vaccines are considered allies of Iran, which remains the hardest hit Middle Eastern country. Khamenei made the same claims on Twitter, after which his post was removed by the company for violating the platform's rules against misinformation. Also read: Iran in no rush to see US return to nuclear deal: Khamenei Last month, the country launched trials of its first local coronavirus vaccine candidate. The country claimed that this would help derail the virus, amid US sanctions that prevent the country from importing vaccines. Since 2018, tensions between Iran and the US have heightened after Trump abandoned a nuclear deal from 2015, after which he reimposed sanctions on the country.

Iran bans foreign companies from testing coronavirus vaccines on its people

A new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus has now spread to at least eight US states, official data showed Friday, as the country logged a record new daily virus caseload.

The B117 coronavirus strain, which emerged in Britain late last year, has been shown to be between 40 and 70 percent more contagious than variants which have spread previously.

Data from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed Friday that the strain -- first reported in the US last week -- has been detected in eight states, with California and Florida the worst affected.

The strain has also been found in Colorado, Texas, New York, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in a total of 63 cases.

Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told Newsweek on Wednesday that the variant may be "more widespread in the United States than we are currently detecting it to be".

"I'm certain it's here, we just haven't detected it yet. And I think it's pretty clear that if it's in places like California, and New York and Colorado... that pretty soon it's going to be in several more states," he said.

The spread of B117 and another more infectious variant from South Africa, known as B1351, has sparked fears of a similar new strain emerging in the US.

But US officials on Friday denied reports that one had been detected so far.

"Researchers have been monitoring U.S. strains since the pandemic began, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December," CDC spokesman Jason McDonald told CNBC.

"To date, neither researchers nor analysts at CDC have seen the emergence of a particular variant in the United States as has been seen with the emergence of B.1.1.7 in the United Kingdom or B.1.351 in South Africa."

Almost 290,000 new coronavirus infections were reported in the US within 24 hours Friday according to Johns Hopkins University, a day after the world's worst-hit country recorded a daily high of nearly 4,000 deaths.

A new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus has now spread to at least eight US states, official data showed Friday, as the country logged a record new daily virus caseload.

A new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus has now spread to at least eight US states, official data showed Friday, as the country logged a record new daily virus caseload. The B117 coronavirus strain, which emerged in Britain late last year, has been shown to be between 40 and 70 percent more contagious than variants which have spread previously. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed Friday that the strain -- first reported in the US last week -- has been detected in eight states, with California and Florida the worst affected. The strain has also been found in Colorado, Texas, New York, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in a total of 63 cases. Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told Newsweek on Wednesday that the variant may be "more widespread in the United States than we are currently detecting it to be". "I'm certain it's here, we just haven't detected it yet. And I think it's pretty clear that if it's in places like California, and New York and Colorado... that pretty soon it's going to be in several more states," he said. The spread of B117 and another more infectious variant from South Africa, known as B1351, has sparked fears of a similar new strain emerging in the US. But US officials on Friday denied reports that one had been detected so far. "Researchers have been monitoring U.S. strains since the pandemic began, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December," CDC spokesman Jason McDonald told CNBC. "To date, neither researchers nor analysts at CDC have seen the emergence of a particular variant in the United States as has been seen with the emergence of B.1.1.7 in the United Kingdom or B.1.351 in South Africa." Almost 290,000 new coronavirus infections were reported in the US within 24 hours Friday according to Johns Hopkins University, a day after the world's worst-hit country recorded a daily high of nearly 4,000 deaths.

New coronavirus variant found in eight US states

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and urged others to take the jabs in a country that has largely brought the pandemic under control.

Unlike other mass vaccination programmes in the United States and Britain, Singapore is administering the jabs having largely eradicated the disease and has reported only a handful of local cases in recent months.

The government has said its studies show nearly 60% of residents are willing to be vaccinated. But the plans have stirred rare hesitancy among some due to the low risk of infection in the island nation and concern about any possible side effects from rapidly developed vaccines.

"It will make us safer, and it will make you and your loved ones safer too, so please take it when you can," Lee, 68, said after receiving the jab at a local hospital.

Singapore has only approved Pfizer-BioNTech`s vaccine but has said it has secured enough doses for its 5.7 million population including from other vaccine-makers like Moderna and Sinovac.

The city-state did some initial vaccinations of frontline workers at the end of December. But Lee said broader vaccinations of healthcare staff would start on Friday, with the elderly to follow next month, and vaccines to be available to all residents by year end at the latest.

"We got vaccinated early to show Singaporeans we are confident that the vaccine is safe and effective," Lee said in a Facebook post, adding that he had been vaccinated alongside the country`s top health official, Kenneth Mak, and "felt fine".

The vaccinations are voluntary but authorities have said they will consider relaxing travel restrictions for people who have been vaccinated against the disease which has killed around 1.9 million people globally.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and urged others to take the jabs in a country that has largely brought the pandemic under control.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and urged others to take the jabs in a country that has largely brought the pandemic under control. Unlike other mass vaccination programmes in the United States and Britain, Singapore is administering the jabs having largely eradicated the disease and has reported only a handful of local cases in recent months. The government has said its studies show nearly 60% of residents are willing to be vaccinated. But the plans have stirred rare hesitancy among some due to the low risk of infection in the island nation and concern about any possible side effects from rapidly developed vaccines. "It will make us safer, and it will make you and your loved ones safer too, so please take it when you can," Lee, 68, said after receiving the jab at a local hospital. Singapore has only approved Pfizer-BioNTech`s vaccine but has said it has secured enough doses for its 5.7 million population including from other vaccine-makers like Moderna and Sinovac. The city-state did some initial vaccinations of frontline workers at the end of December. But Lee said broader vaccinations of healthcare staff would start on Friday, with the elderly to follow next month, and vaccines to be available to all residents by year end at the latest. "We got vaccinated early to show Singaporeans we are confident that the vaccine is safe and effective," Lee said in a Facebook post, adding that he had been vaccinated alongside the country`s top health official, Kenneth Mak, and "felt fine". The vaccinations are voluntary but authorities have said they will consider relaxing travel restrictions for people who have been vaccinated against the disease which has killed around 1.9 million people globally.

Singapore PM receives Covid vaccine, urges his countrymen to get it too

Japan has declared a limited state of emergency in the capital, Tokyo, and three neighbouring prefectures on Thursday to stem the spread of the coronavirus, resisting calls from some medics for wider curbs due to the economic damage they would cause.

Japan declares state of emergency for Tokyo area as COVID-19 cases surge

France will keep its restaurants, cinemas and ski resorts closed while it cranks up its COVID-19 vaccination rollout because the coronavirus is still spreading too fast and hospitals remain under severe pressure, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday (January 7).

France reports 19 UK COVID-19 variant cases

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) on Friday has urged the players for a sensible approach to celebrating goals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

ALSO READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/fa-cup-aston-villa-confirm-liverpool-match-to-go-ahead-despite-coronavirus-outbreak-355438" hreflang="en">FA Cup: Aston Villa confirm Liverpool match to go ahead despite coronavirus outbreak</a>

Four English Premier League have been postponed due to outbreak in the league clubs. Some FA Cup ties and Women's Super League (WSL) matches this weekend also either in doubt or called off.

"We've sent a message to all our members saying, 'you have done a great job, you've kept the game going and you deserve a lot of credit, but it's important you keep to the protocols," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told The Times.

"Always abide by what you're being told by doctors and medical staff with regard to the protocols about keeping your distance and the hygiene that's required.

"I understand with the celebration of a goal it's difficult to just put the ball in the back of the net and act as though nothing has happened.

"It's that adrenaline rush... that's what the game is all about, but that's part and parcel of the process, so they'll be reminded."

Many Premier League clubs have witnessed COVID-19 outbreaks.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) on Friday has urged the players for a sensible approach to celebrating goals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. ALSO READ: FA Cup: Aston Villa confirm Liverpool match to go ahead despite coronavirus outbreak Four English Premier League have been postponed due to outbreak in the league clubs.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) on Friday has urged the players for a sensible approach to celebrating goals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. ALSO READ: FA Cup: Aston Villa confirm Liverpool match to go ahead despite coronavirus outbreak Four English Premier League have been postponed due to outbreak in the league clubs. Some FA Cup ties and Women's Super League (WSL) matches this weekend also either in doubt or called off. "We've sent a message to all our members saying, 'you have done a great job, you've kept the game going and you deserve a lot of credit, but it's important you keep to the protocols," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told The Times. "Always abide by what you're being told by doctors and medical staff with regard to the protocols about keeping your distance and the hygiene that's required. "I understand with the celebration of a goal it's difficult to just put the ball in the back of the net and act as though nothing has happened. "It's that adrenaline rush... that's what the game is all about, but that's part and parcel of the process, so they'll be reminded." Many Premier League clubs have witnessed COVID-19 outbreaks.

PFA urges players for sensible approach to celebrating goals amid COVID-19

The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan could be around three times the official figure.

COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019, with the first outbreak associated with a seafood market in the city. China finally locked down Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province on January 23, 2020, but critics say it should have acted sooner.

According to a study by Chinese researchers based in the city, it has now been estimated that as many as 168,000 Wuhan residents were infected with the virus, compared to the official number of 50,340 hospitalised cases.

The paper, published by the PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal on Thursday, analysed blood samples from more than 60,000 healthy individuals taken from locations across China from March to May 2020.

It found that 1.68% of those from Wuhan contained antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to 0.59% in surrounding Hubei province and 0.38% in the rest of China.

The study suggested at least two thirds of the total number were asymptomatic, and thousands could have been infected after the "elimination" of clinical cases, raising the possibility the virus could exist in a community for a long period without causing hospitalisations.

A separate study published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late last month put the "seroprevalence" rate in Wuhan, the percentage of the population with antibodies, even higher at 4.43%, implying that around half a million people in the city could have been infected.

Total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to date in mainland China now stands at 87,331, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

China has dismissed criticism of its early handling of the virus, and officials now point to overseas studies suggesting it was circulating in Europe several months before the Wuhan outbreak.

A 10-strong team from the World Health Organisation was due to arrive in China this week to investigate the origins of COVID-19, but they have yet to be been given authorisation to enter the country.

The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan could be around three times the official figure. COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019, with the first outbreak associated with a seafood market in the city.

The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan could be around three times the official figure. COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019, with the first outbreak associated with a seafood market in the city. China finally locked down Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province on January 23, 2020, but critics say it should have acted sooner. According to a study by Chinese researchers based in the city, it has now been estimated that as many as 168,000 Wuhan residents were infected with the virus, compared to the official number of 50,340 hospitalised cases. The paper, published by the PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal on Thursday, analysed blood samples from more than 60,000 healthy individuals taken from locations across China from March to May 2020. It found that 1.68% of those from Wuhan contained antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to 0.59% in surrounding Hubei province and 0.38% in the rest of China. The study suggested at least two thirds of the total number were asymptomatic, and thousands could have been infected after the "elimination" of clinical cases, raising the possibility the virus could exist in a community for a long period without causing hospitalisations. A separate study published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late last month put the "seroprevalence" rate in Wuhan, the percentage of the population with antibodies, even higher at 4.43%, implying that around half a million people in the city could have been infected. Total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to date in mainland China now stands at 87,331, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634. China has dismissed criticism of its early handling of the virus, and officials now point to overseas studies suggesting it was circulating in Europe several months before the Wuhan outbreak. A 10-strong team from the World Health Organisation was due to arrive in China this week to investigate the origins of COVID-19, but they have yet to be been given authorisation to enter the country.

Covid infections in Wuhan three times higher than official figure, study says

PRC tests involve taking a swab of the throat and nose and testing for the genetic code (RNA) of the virus. The majority of tests performed globally use this method.

The world's first vending machine for COVID-19 tests

The mob that stormed the Capitol Wednesday did not just threaten the heart of American democracy. To scientists who watched in dismay as the scenes unfolded on television, the throngs of unmasked intruders who wandered through hallways and into private offices may also have transformed the riot into a superspreader event.

The coronavirus thrives indoors, particularly in crowded spaces, lingering in the air in tiny particles called aerosols. If even a few people were infected — likely, given the current rates of spread and the crowd size — then the virus would have had the ideal opportunity to find new victims, experts said.

“It has all the elements of what we warn people about,” said Anne Rimoin, a public health researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. “People yelling and screaming, chanting, exerting themselves — all of those things provide opportunity for the virus to spread, and this virus takes those opportunities.”

President Donald Trump has downplayed the pandemic almost since its beginning, and many of his supporters who entered the Capitol on Wednesday did not appear to be wearing masks or making any effort at social distancing. Under similar conditions, gatherings held in such close quarters have led to fast-spreading clusters of infection.

But transmission of the virus has always been difficult to track. There is little effective contact tracing in the United States, and many in the crowd at the Capitol arrived from communities far from Washington.

The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer raised similar concerns. But most were held outdoors, and greater numbers of participants seemed to be masked. Research afterward suggested these were not superspreading events.

Attendees of the rally preceding the rush to the Capitol on Wednesday also stood outdoors close together for hours, but “I’m less worried about what was happening outdoors,” Rimoin said. “The risk increases exponentially indoors.”

Hundreds of rioters shouting in crowded rooms and hallways for extended periods of time can infect dozens of people at once, she and other experts said.

Three distinct groups — Capitol Police, rioters and members of Congress — “were spending time indoors, without social distancing, for long periods of time,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious diseases physician at Boston University. The melee likely was a superspreader event, he added, “especially given the backdrop of the highly transmissible variants that are circulating.”

Barocas was referring to a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus, first identified in Britain. Cases have been reported in several U.S. states, and the variant may well have spread everywhere in the country, making events like the Capitol riot even more risky, he said.

The idea that members of Congress may have been exposed, amid an already difficult transfer of power, particularly disturbed some scientists. “I am worried not only that it could it could lead to superspreading, but also superspreading to people who are elected officials,” said Dr. Tom Ingelsby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

And infected members of Congress and law enforcement could have spread the virus to one another as they sheltered from the violence, he noted.

Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., announced on Twitter early Thursday morning that he had tested positive for the virus. LaTurner was cloistered in the chamber with other members of Congress for much of the day.

At least a dozen of the 400 or so lawmakers and staff who were huddling in one committee room refused to wear masks even after being offered one, or wore them improperly below their chins, said Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa.

They gathered in a committee room that quickly became crowded, making social distancing impossible, she said. Some of the lawmakers were unmasked, and several were shouting. “Tensions were high, and people were yelling at each other,” Wild said.

“I just started getting really kind of angry, thinking about the holidays just passed, and how so many people did not spend time with their immediate families for fear of spreading,” she added, referring to her unmasked colleagues.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said the environment made her so nervous she sat on the floor at one point, hoping to duck whatever virus might be floating about. She has asked experts whether the lawmakers present should now quarantine, she said. She was wearing two masks, as she often does.

“I get that they think they have their individual freedoms,” she said of Republican lawmakers who eschewed masks. “It’s a rule for a reason. It’s to protect the common good.”

The risk for members of Congress will depend greatly on ventilation in the room where they sheltered, said Joseph Allen, an expert on buildings quality at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“If there is a well-designed secure facility, then it would have great ventilation and filtration,” Allen said. “If it’s a place where they were just hunkered down wherever they could go that was safe, and it was not a place that was designed like that, then we don’t really know.”

It’s natural in a heart-pounding crisis to disregard risks that seem intangible or theoretical, he and other scientists noted.

“You cannot keep distance if you’re trying to leave a very intense and dangerous situation,” said Seema Lakdawala, an expert in respiratory virus transmission at the University of Pittsburgh. “You’re weighing the risk of your life over the risk of getting a virus at that moment.”

Members of Congress returned to continue the electoral count after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol. Some legislators took off their masks before giving a speech, Barocas noted, at precisely the time they needed to wear them. Talking at a high volume can expel vast quantities of aerosols, propelling them through an enclosed space.

Scientists have documented infectious aerosols suspended in air nearly 20 feet from an infected person. And a recent study from South Korea found that two people had become infected after spending just five minutes in a restaurant, 15 feet away from an infected patron.

Many Americans breathed sighs of relief as rioters departed the Capitol. Some experts feared that rioters heading back home could set off new chains of infection, perhaps impossible to track.

“We might get an inkling into how bad it might be because of the federal employees,” Barocas said. But “I don’t think that we’re going to know the extent of this superspreader event.”

Even as the mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, the pandemic marked a grim milestone: The virus claimed nearly 4,000 lives, the highest daily toll thus far. The numbers are expected to keep rising.

The president has “created a culture in which people think it’s a hoax, and these basic control measures are being flouted repeatedly everywhere,” Allen said.

The mob that stormed the Capitol Wednesday did not just threaten the heart of American democracy. To scientists who watched in dismay as the scenes unfolded on television, the throngs of unmasked intruders who wandered through hallways and into private offices may also have transformed the riot into a superspreader event.

The mob that stormed the Capitol Wednesday did not just threaten the heart of American democracy. To scientists who watched in dismay as the scenes unfolded on television, the throngs of unmasked intruders who wandered through hallways and into private offices may also have transformed the riot into a superspreader event. The coronavirus thrives indoors, particularly in crowded spaces, lingering in the air in tiny particles called aerosols. If even a few people were infected — likely, given the current rates of spread and the crowd size — then the virus would have had the ideal opportunity to find new victims, experts said. “It has all the elements of what we warn people about,” said Anne Rimoin, a public health researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. “People yelling and screaming, chanting, exerting themselves — all of those things provide opportunity for the virus to spread, and this virus takes those opportunities.” President Donald Trump has downplayed the pandemic almost since its beginning, and many of his supporters who entered the Capitol on Wednesday did not appear to be wearing masks or making any effort at social distancing. Under similar conditions, gatherings held in such close quarters have led to fast-spreading clusters of infection. But transmission of the virus has always been difficult to track. There is little effective contact tracing in the United States, and many in the crowd at the Capitol arrived from communities far from Washington. The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer raised similar concerns. But most were held outdoors, and greater numbers of participants seemed to be masked. Research afterward suggested these were not superspreading events. Attendees of the rally preceding the rush to the Capitol on Wednesday also stood outdoors close together for hours, but “I’m less worried about what was happening outdoors,” Rimoin said. “The risk increases exponentially indoors.” Hundreds of rioters shouting in crowded rooms and hallways for extended periods of time can infect dozens of people at once, she and other experts said. Three distinct groups — Capitol Police, rioters and members of Congress — “were spending time indoors, without social distancing, for long periods of time,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious diseases physician at Boston University. The melee likely was a superspreader event, he added, “especially given the backdrop of the highly transmissible variants that are circulating.” Barocas was referring to a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus, first identified in Britain. Cases have been reported in several U.S. states, and the variant may well have spread everywhere in the country, making events like the Capitol riot even more risky, he said. The idea that members of Congress may have been exposed, amid an already difficult transfer of power, particularly disturbed some scientists. “I am worried not only that it could it could lead to superspreading, but also superspreading to people who are elected officials,” said Dr. Tom Ingelsby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. And infected members of Congress and law enforcement could have spread the virus to one another as they sheltered from the violence, he noted. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., announced on Twitter early Thursday morning that he had tested positive for the virus. LaTurner was cloistered in the chamber with other members of Congress for much of the day. At least a dozen of the 400 or so lawmakers and staff who were huddling in one committee room refused to wear masks even after being offered one, or wore them improperly below their chins, said Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa. They gathered in a committee room that quickly became crowded, making social distancing impossible, she said. Some of the lawmakers were unmasked, and several were shouting. “Tensions were high, and people were yelling at each other,” Wild said. “I just started getting really kind of angry, thinking about the holidays just passed, and how so many people did not spend time with their immediate families for fear of spreading,” she added, referring to her unmasked colleagues. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said the environment made her so nervous she sat on the floor at one point, hoping to duck whatever virus might be floating about. She has asked experts whether the lawmakers present should now quarantine, she said. She was wearing two masks, as she often does. “I get that they think they have their individual freedoms,” she said of Republican lawmakers who eschewed masks. “It’s a rule for a reason. It’s to protect the common good.” The risk for members of Congress will depend greatly on ventilation in the room where they sheltered, said Joseph Allen, an expert on buildings quality at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. “If there is a well-designed secure facility, then it would have great ventilation and filtration,” Allen said. “If it’s a place where they were just hunkered down wherever they could go that was safe, and it was not a place that was designed like that, then we don’t really know.” It’s natural in a heart-pounding crisis to disregard risks that seem intangible or theoretical, he and other scientists noted. “You cannot keep distance if you’re trying to leave a very intense and dangerous situation,” said Seema Lakdawala, an expert in respiratory virus transmission at the University of Pittsburgh. “You’re weighing the risk of your life over the risk of getting a virus at that moment.” Members of Congress returned to continue the electoral count after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol. Some legislators took off their masks before giving a speech, Barocas noted, at precisely the time they needed to wear them. Talking at a high volume can expel vast quantities of aerosols, propelling them through an enclosed space. Scientists have documented infectious aerosols suspended in air nearly 20 feet from an infected person. And a recent study from South Korea found that two people had become infected after spending just five minutes in a restaurant, 15 feet away from an infected patron. Many Americans breathed sighs of relief as rioters departed the Capitol. Some experts feared that rioters heading back home could set off new chains of infection, perhaps impossible to track. “We might get an inkling into how bad it might be because of the federal employees,” Barocas said. But “I don’t think that we’re going to know the extent of this superspreader event.” Even as the mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, the pandemic marked a grim milestone: The virus claimed nearly 4,000 lives, the highest daily toll thus far. The numbers are expected to keep rising. The president has “created a culture in which people think it’s a hoax, and these basic control measures are being flouted repeatedly everywhere,” Allen said.

A riot amid a pandemic: Did the coronavirus, too, storm the Capitol?

French Prime Minister Jean Castex details the government's strategy for speeding up their anti-Covid vaccine campaign nationwide.

France: UK variant  reported in Ile-de-France and Brittany

Sri Lanka's government has insisted on the cremation of all coronavirus victims, rejecting international pleas and recommendations from its own experts to allow the Muslim minority to bury their dead.

The announcement came despite a government-appointed expert committee noting this week that while it felt cremations were safest, burials could be allowed under strict conditions.

The government first banned burials in April amid concerns that burying bodies could contaminate groundwater and spread the virus. Experts have said these claims are baseless.

The World Health Organisation has also said that there is no such risk, recommending both burials and cremations of virus victims, but the Sri Lankan government has refused.

"This decision will not be changed for social, religious, political or any other personal reason," Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said, according to ministry officials.

Traditionally and in line with the Islamic custom, Muslims bury their dead facing Mecca. Sri Lanka's majority Buddhists, who are strong backers of the current government, are typically cremated, as are Hindus.

Last month, authorities ordered the forced cremation of at least 19 Muslim Covid-19 victims, including a baby, after their families refused to claim their bodies from a hospital morgue.

This stoked dismay and anger among the Muslim community, moderates and abroad, with the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation repeatedly expressing concern.

Sri Lanka's Muslim Council (SLMC) had earlier accused the government of trying to provoke Muslim youths into doing "something rash" with its decision on cremations, a claim echoed by Justice Minister Ali Sabry, a Muslim.

There have been ongoing tensions between Muslims and the majority Sinhalese -- who are mostly Buddhists -- since the deadly 2019 Easter bombings carried out by local jihadists.

The SLMC said more than half of Sri Lanka's 222 Covid-19 victims were from the Muslim minority which accounts for just 10 per cent of the 21 million population.

Sri Lanka's government has insisted on the cremation of all coronavirus victims, rejecting international pleas and recommendations from its own experts to allow the Muslim minority to bury their dead.

Sri Lanka's government has insisted on the cremation of all coronavirus victims, rejecting international pleas and recommendations from its own experts to allow the Muslim minority to bury their dead. The announcement came despite a government-appointed expert committee noting this week that while it felt cremations were safest, burials could be allowed under strict conditions. The government first banned burials in April amid concerns that burying bodies could contaminate groundwater and spread the virus. Experts have said these claims are baseless. The World Health Organisation has also said that there is no such risk, recommending both burials and cremations of virus victims, but the Sri Lankan government has refused. "This decision will not be changed for social, religious, political or any other personal reason," Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said, according to ministry officials. Traditionally and in line with the Islamic custom, Muslims bury their dead facing Mecca. Sri Lanka's majority Buddhists, who are strong backers of the current government, are typically cremated, as are Hindus. Last month, authorities ordered the forced cremation of at least 19 Muslim Covid-19 victims, including a baby, after their families refused to claim their bodies from a hospital morgue. This stoked dismay and anger among the Muslim community, moderates and abroad, with the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation repeatedly expressing concern. Sri Lanka's Muslim Council (SLMC) had earlier accused the government of trying to provoke Muslim youths into doing "something rash" with its decision on cremations, a claim echoed by Justice Minister Ali Sabry, a Muslim. There have been ongoing tensions between Muslims and the majority Sinhalese -- who are mostly Buddhists -- since the deadly 2019 Easter bombings carried out by local jihadists. The SLMC said more than half of Sri Lanka's 222 Covid-19 victims were from the Muslim minority which accounts for just 10 per cent of the 21 million population.

Sri Lanka to continue to cremate Muslim Covid-19 victims despite uproar

Dozens of Bulgarian men danced and sang in the cold waters of the Tundzha river in the central Bulgarian town of Kalofer to mark the Christian holiday of Epiphany on Wednesday, ignoring curbs imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Bulgarians dance in cold waters to celebrate Epiphany

Japan PM Suga: Highest ever infection in respective regions

China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as authorities move to stem the country's largest Covid-19 outbreak in six months.

The pandemic has so far broadly been brought to heel by Chinese authorities since its emergence in Wuhan in late 2019, with small outbreaks swiftly snuffed out using mass testing, local lockdowns and travel restrictions.

But Hebei province in northern China has seen 127 new Covid-19 cases, plus an additional 183 asymptomatic infections, in the past week.

The vast majority were found in Shijiazhuang, a city of several million in Hebei province whose surrounding areas take the total population to 11 million. Nine confirmed cases were in the neighbouring city of Xingtai, whose area covers 7 million people.

Residents of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai were banned from leaving the cities unless absolutely necessary, Hebei authorities announced Friday.&nbsp;

Officials vowed to "strictly control the movement of people and vehicles", with all residential estates placed under "closed management" -- a euphemism for lockdown.

Hebei residents were also banned from entering Beijing or leaving the province unless absolutely necessary.&nbsp;

People in four Hebei cities and fifteen counties surrounding Beijing must produce a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 72 hours to enter the capital, as well as proof of a Beijing address or workplace, officials said.

"The outbreak was imported from abroad, but the exact origins are currently under in-depth investigation by state, provincial and municipal experts," said Li Qi, head of the Hebei Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press briefing Friday.

Li added that the outbreak is concentrated in Shijiazhuang's Gaocheng district, and other infections in the province were related to that outbreak.

Chinese officials have repeatedly tried to link recurrent domestic outbreaks to strains of the virus circulating overseas, suggesting that it had been brought back into China by methods such as returning travellers and contaminated imported food packaging.

Long-distance passenger vehicle transport in both cities was suspended as of Friday, and highways closed. Flights to and from Shijiazhuang have been cancelled, and trains suspended.

Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed residents being swabbed by medical workers in hazmat suits at community centres in Shijiazhuang while queues outside stretched around the block.&nbsp;

Virus control staff stood guard at highways entering the city, which had mostly been blocked by barricades, the images released on Thursday showed.

Hebei province reported 33 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday in addition to 51 from the day before -- pushing the nationwide daily total to the highest figure since July.

Schools have closed and officials have pledged to screen all residents of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai for the virus by Saturday.&nbsp;

So far, both cities have tested around 6.7 million residents in total, officials said Friday.

Staff were filmed giving injections of China's recently approved Sinopharm vaccine, which has a 79 percent efficacy rate.

Three officials from the city's worst-hit Gaocheng district have been disciplined for apparent negligence in virus control, a sign of the pressure on local authorities to squash the virus wherever it emerges.&nbsp;

China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as authorities move to stem the country's largest Covid-19 outbreak in six months.

China has sealed off two cities south of Beijing, cutting transport links and banning millions of residents from leaving, as authorities move to stem the country's largest Covid-19 outbreak in six months. The pandemic has so far broadly been brought to heel by Chinese authorities since its emergence in Wuhan in late 2019, with small outbreaks swiftly snuffed out using mass testing, local lockdowns and travel restrictions. But Hebei province in northern China has seen 127 new Covid-19 cases, plus an additional 183 asymptomatic infections, in the past week. The vast majority were found in Shijiazhuang, a city of several million in Hebei province whose surrounding areas take the total population to 11 million. Nine confirmed cases were in the neighbouring city of Xingtai, whose area covers 7 million people. Residents of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai were banned from leaving the cities unless absolutely necessary, Hebei authorities announced Friday. Officials vowed to "strictly control the movement of people and vehicles", with all residential estates placed under "closed management" -- a euphemism for lockdown. Hebei residents were also banned from entering Beijing or leaving the province unless absolutely necessary. People in four Hebei cities and fifteen counties surrounding Beijing must produce a negative nucleic acid test result taken within 72 hours to enter the capital, as well as proof of a Beijing address or workplace, officials said. "The outbreak was imported from abroad, but the exact origins are currently under in-depth investigation by state, provincial and municipal experts," said Li Qi, head of the Hebei Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press briefing Friday. Li added that the outbreak is concentrated in Shijiazhuang's Gaocheng district, and other infections in the province were related to that outbreak. Chinese officials have repeatedly tried to link recurrent domestic outbreaks to strains of the virus circulating overseas, suggesting that it had been brought back into China by methods such as returning travellers and contaminated imported food packaging. Long-distance passenger vehicle transport in both cities was suspended as of Friday, and highways closed. Flights to and from Shijiazhuang have been cancelled, and trains suspended. Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed residents being swabbed by medical workers in hazmat suits at community centres in Shijiazhuang while queues outside stretched around the block. Virus control staff stood guard at highways entering the city, which had mostly been blocked by barricades, the images released on Thursday showed. Hebei province reported 33 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday in addition to 51 from the day before -- pushing the nationwide daily total to the highest figure since July. Schools have closed and officials have pledged to screen all residents of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai for the virus by Saturday. So far, both cities have tested around 6.7 million residents in total, officials said Friday. Staff were filmed giving injections of China's recently approved Sinopharm vaccine, which has a 79 percent efficacy rate. Three officials from the city's worst-hit Gaocheng district have been disciplined for apparent negligence in virus control, a sign of the pressure on local authorities to squash the virus wherever it emerges.

Two Chinese cities sealed off to squash virus outbreak

Sustainable weddings are in and small is the new big because a more thoughtful approach impacts the planet positively, says Ambika Gupta, a luxe event planner, known for creating transportive weddings for celebrities like actor Kajal Aggarwal. The entrepreneur also encourages a green and yet bespoke design language. 
 
She says, "The pandemic should put things in perspective for us. We cannot now endlessly consume our resources, generate vast amounts of waste and live as if there is no tomorrow because there is. And if we don`t change, the next generation will have to deal with the fallout of the climate crisis in a more serious way." 
 
Ambika who founded The A-Cube Project over eight years ago in Chennai found her calling as a much-in-demand designer and planner of weddings. This year, she had to work around the challenges of the post-Covid-19 scenario. As she designed events with safety protocols in place, she says she also started conversations with her clients about greener, more responsible weddings. 
 
Ambika says, "The pandemic has forced families to have smaller events. That automatically cuts down waste but many of my clients are also well-informed about climate concerns and in fact want their weddings to set an example. For instance, for a Pondicherry wedding , the couple and the team worked closely to address the issue of floral and food waste. This was a special request from the bride who is very sensitive to environmental concerns. The flowers were composted and the extra food from each event distributed locally. India Wasted and The Robin Hood Army came onboard to help us manage this." 
 
Her other tips for a greener wedding are: 
 
- Order local floral produce as this will cut down the carbon footprint and help distressed farmers in these times. Instead of using excessive floral accents, choose statement arrangements that will really be noticed. 
 
- Instead of store-bought gifts engage NGOs that support artisans to create one-of-a-kind giveaways. For the Pondicherry wedding that Ambika designed, jute bags with Van Gogh inspired embroidery were made by Purkal Stree Shakti (An Uttarakhand-based NGO), and gifted to guests. 
 
- Use disposable cutlery and crockery made of biodegradable materials like bamboo. 
 
- Choose wedding cards made out of recycled paper or go for e-invites. 
 
- Use materials like clay, straw, living plants, recyclable materials to create props. For Kajal Aggarwal`s wedding, Ambika themed an event around a Kitsch Mandi and used Kutch workmanship in furnishings, traditional dry palm weaves, a Chettinad console and brass pots with banana leaves. She also used "pettis", contraptions used by coconut farmers as a backdrop in place of a wasteful prop. 
 
- Consider `mini-monies` where the number of guests is minimum and the couple get married at a local venue. 
 
- Use classic furniture that can be hired or reused by the designer instead of plastic chairs. 
 
- Think of lighting options that are less energy-consuming 
 
"I read recently that more than 10 million weddings take place in India every year and leave behind mountains of trash, discarded plastic cutlery, used flowers and wasted food. I believe, together, we can all do better than this," concludes Ambika. 
 
 
&nbsp;

Sustainable weddings are in and small is the new big because a more thoughtful approach impacts the planet positively, says Ambika Gupta, a luxe event planner, known for creating transportive weddings for celebrities like actor Kajal Aggarwal.

Sustainable weddings are in and small is the new big because a more thoughtful approach impacts the planet positively, says Ambika Gupta, a luxe event planner, known for creating transportive weddings for celebrities like actor Kajal Aggarwal. The entrepreneur also encourages a green and yet bespoke design language. She says, "The pandemic should put things in perspective for us. We cannot now endlessly consume our resources, generate vast amounts of waste and live as if there is no tomorrow because there is. And if we don`t change, the next generation will have to deal with the fallout of the climate crisis in a more serious way." Ambika who founded The A-Cube Project over eight years ago in Chennai found her calling as a much-in-demand designer and planner of weddings. This year, she had to work around the challenges of the post-Covid-19 scenario. As she designed events with safety protocols in place, she says she also started conversations with her clients about greener, more responsible weddings. Ambika says, "The pandemic has forced families to have smaller events. That automatically cuts down waste but many of my clients are also well-informed about climate concerns and in fact want their weddings to set an example. For instance, for a Pondicherry wedding , the couple and the team worked closely to address the issue of floral and food waste. This was a special request from the bride who is very sensitive to environmental concerns. The flowers were composted and the extra food from each event distributed locally. India Wasted and The Robin Hood Army came onboard to help us manage this." Her other tips for a greener wedding are: - Order local floral produce as this will cut down the carbon footprint and help distressed farmers in these times. Instead of using excessive floral accents, choose statement arrangements that will really be noticed. - Instead of store-bought gifts engage NGOs that support artisans to create one-of-a-kind giveaways. For the Pondicherry wedding that Ambika designed, jute bags with Van Gogh inspired embroidery were made by Purkal Stree Shakti (An Uttarakhand-based NGO), and gifted to guests. - Use disposable cutlery and crockery made of biodegradable materials like bamboo. - Choose wedding cards made out of recycled paper or go for e-invites. - Use materials like clay, straw, living plants, recyclable materials to create props. For Kajal Aggarwal`s wedding, Ambika themed an event around a Kitsch Mandi and used Kutch workmanship in furnishings, traditional dry palm weaves, a Chettinad console and brass pots with banana leaves. She also used "pettis", contraptions used by coconut farmers as a backdrop in place of a wasteful prop. - Consider `mini-monies` where the number of guests is minimum and the couple get married at a local venue. - Use classic furniture that can be hired or reused by the designer instead of plastic chairs. - Think of lighting options that are less energy-consuming "I read recently that more than 10 million weddings take place in India every year and leave behind mountains of trash, discarded plastic cutlery, used flowers and wasted food. I believe, together, we can all do better than this," concludes Ambika.

Planning a wedding during COVID? Greener, zero-waste weddings are the way to go

Chinese authorities on Wednesday imposed travel restrictions and banned gatherings in the capital city of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, in the latest escalation of measures to stave off another coronavirus wave.

China steps up COVID-19 curbs near Beijing as infections rise

From Japan to United States: Ten most powerful passports in 2021

India has leaped across a significant milestone in its fight against COVID-19 with the cumulative recoveries crossing the 1 crore-mark, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. A total 19,587 patients have recuperated and discharged in a span of 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 10,016,859.

India's recoveries are the highest in the world.

The gap between active cases and recovered cases is continuously increasing and stands at 97,88,776, the ministry highlighted.

"The recovered cases are 44 times the number of active cases," it said.

The active caseload presently stands at 2,28,083 and comprises merely 2.19 percent of the total infections.

The ministry said that51 percent of the total recovered cases are concentrated in five states -Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 96.36 percent. Following the national pursuit, all states and union territories have recovery rate more than 90 percent.

"India's recovery rate is the highest in the world. Countries with higher caseload are reporting lesser recovery rate than India's," the ministry underlined.

With the expansion in the testing infrastructure, the COVID-19 positivity rate of India has also gone down. The daily positivity rate remains below 3 per cent.

"Seventeen states and UTs have weekly positivity rate more than the national average," the ministry said.

It said 79.08 percent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and union territories.

Kerala continues to lead with 5,110 single-day recoveries, followed by Maharashtra with 2,570 new recoveries.

About 83.88 percent of the new confirmed cases are from 10 states and UTs.

Kerala has reported 6,394 cases in a span of 24 hours. Maharashtra recorded 4,382 new cases while Chhattisgarh has registered 1,050 new cases on Wednesday.

A total of 222 case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours. Of these, 67.57 percent are concentrated in six states and UTs.

Maharashtra has reported the maximum single-day deaths (66 deaths). Kerala also saw a fatality count of 25 while West Bengal reported 22 new deaths.

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,03,95,278 with 20,346 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,50,336 with 222 new fatalities, according to data updated at 8 am.

India has leaped across a significant milestone in its fight against COVID-19 with the cumulative recoveries crossing the 1 crore-mark, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

India has leaped across a significant milestone in its fight against COVID-19 with the cumulative recoveries crossing the 1 crore-mark, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. A total 19,587 patients have recuperated and discharged in a span of 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 10,016,859. India's recoveries are the highest in the world. The gap between active cases and recovered cases is continuously increasing and stands at 97,88,776, the ministry highlighted. "The recovered cases are 44 times the number of active cases," it said. The active caseload presently stands at 2,28,083 and comprises merely 2.19 percent of the total infections. The ministry said that51 percent of the total recovered cases are concentrated in five states -Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 96.36 percent. Following the national pursuit, all states and union territories have recovery rate more than 90 percent. "India's recovery rate is the highest in the world. Countries with higher caseload are reporting lesser recovery rate than India's," the ministry underlined. With the expansion in the testing infrastructure, the COVID-19 positivity rate of India has also gone down. The daily positivity rate remains below 3 per cent. "Seventeen states and UTs have weekly positivity rate more than the national average," the ministry said. It said 79.08 percent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and union territories. Kerala continues to lead with 5,110 single-day recoveries, followed by Maharashtra with 2,570 new recoveries. About 83.88 percent of the new confirmed cases are from 10 states and UTs. Kerala has reported 6,394 cases in a span of 24 hours. Maharashtra recorded 4,382 new cases while Chhattisgarh has registered 1,050 new cases on Wednesday. A total of 222 case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours. Of these, 67.57 percent are concentrated in six states and UTs. Maharashtra has reported the maximum single-day deaths (66 deaths). Kerala also saw a fatality count of 25 while West Bengal reported 22 new deaths. India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,03,95,278 with 20,346 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,50,336 with 222 new fatalities, according to data updated at 8 am.

Covid-19 in India: Recovered cases are 44 times number of active cases

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