A new COVID-19 snort that arrived in Ireland from the UK is now spreading at a rapid pace, Prime Minister Michael Martin announced in a televised speech on Wednesday.
“As international research for this new variant continues, it is already very clear that we are dealing with a much faster, more rapid spread of the disease.” he said.
“It is spreading at a rate that has exceeded the toughest models available to us,” said Martin, adding that Ireland would be tightening public health restrictions over the next four weeks.
The Prime Minister ordered the closure of incompetent retailers and extended the travel ban on arrivals from the UK and South Africa until 6 January.
North America
The infectious coronavirus species first discovered in the UK was first found in California, Governor Gavin told Newsom. The discovery comes just days after the first known U.S. case was filed in Colorado.
Newsom did not immediately elaborate further on the case, but infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said it was “not surprising,” adding that additional cases were likely to appear in California and other states. Scientists believe that the new strain is much more contagious than the others previously mentioned, but it is not worse in the symptoms it causes.
The UK variant, known as B.1.1.7, was also found in Canada, Italy, India and the United Arab Emirates.
Europe
France considering starting its curfew earlier in the evening in parts of the country, Health Minister Olivier Veran said. The government, however, has refused to return to full lock, he said. The proposal is to extend the curfew from 8pm to 6am, to start at 6pm in the hardest areas with the second wave.
While Veran identified four eastern regions in particular hit hard by the rise in diseases, his ministry said the expanded currant could be expanded to as many as 20 areas. France has so far recorded more than 2.5 million cases and 64,000 deaths since the outbreak began.
Germany registered 22,459 new diseases, bringing the majority to 1,687,185 since the outbreak began, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed Wednesday. At the same time, the death toll rose from 1,129 to 32,107.
Germany, which has been praised for its early control of the pandemic, has seen daily death tolls and new case figures in recent weeks. The country is currently locked up, where vendors have closed and students have been sent back to remote learning.
Asia
Thai officials have announced new restrictions, including the closure of some entertainment facilities, over the New Year’s holidays amid a new spike in infections. As part of the new measures, hostess bars, gambling establishments and massage parlors were ordered closed.
After months of revealing that the situation is under control, Thailand has seen two major groups of the virus develop.
One of the groups typically involved hundreds of migrant workers from Myanmar at a seafood market near Bangkok, and in the past few days, a browser has become associated with a gambling nest in eastern area.
China hopes to provide affordable vaccines to developing countries
Chinese medicine giant Sinopharm vaccine CNBG Beijing has shown 79.34% efficacy in protecting people from COVID-19 in Phase III trials, the developer said Wednesday.
This is lower than competing jobs developed by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna which both showed an efficiency of over 90%.
The company has applied for a regulatory license in China for use by the general public.
The United Arab Emirates has allowed remote learning for schools for the first two weeks of the new term starting January 3, the Abu Dhabi media office said on Twitter on Wednesday.
The move is to protect the health of students and staff from the virus.
Latin America
Latin America and the Caribbean the second division after Europe reached the top 500,000 deaths, according to an AFP report. At least 500,800 have died among the 29 countries in the region, with more than half of those in Brazil and Mexico.
lc, mvb / sri (AFP, Reuters, AP)