Tens of thousands of people are being tested after hundreds of cases linked to the Mahachai seafood market.
Thailand has yet to see the worst spread of the coronavirus after hundreds of cases were detected to the country’s largest seafood market.
Locks have been imposed in and around Samut Sakhon, an area near the capital Bangkok, as up to 40,000 people will be tested, health officials have said.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia has suspended international passenger flights for weeks after news of a new strain of the coronavirus, state media reported.
A growing number of countries have banned flights and passengers from the UK as a result of the release of a new, more contagious coronavirus strain that has been described in London as “out of control”.
Meanwhile, shipments of the second vaccine are underway in the U.S., as Moderna ‘s release is expected on Monday.
There have been more than 76.7 million cases of coronavirus worldwide, with more than 1.69 million deaths.
Here are the latest updates:
New COVID strain in the UK: What we know in 500 words
In the last few days, concerns have grown about a new strain identified in the United Kingdom.
The new variant, dubbed VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), is expected to have occurred in mid-September in the southeast of the country, in a major the city of London or Kent county.
Vaccines should still be effective against it and the new snoring is not believed to be more deadly, but people are becoming increasingly anxious as this mutation appears to be 70 per cent more contagious.
Read more here.
Thousands tested in Thailand after virus outbreak in seafood market
A medical worker makes a nose swab on a migrant worker at a seafood market, amid the coronavirus infection (COVID-19) outbreak, in Samut Sakhon district, Thailand [Panumas Sanguanwong/Reuters]
Thailand has confirmed 382 new coronavirus infections with the majority of cases linked to a seafood plant revolution in a province near the capital, the health ministry said.
Tens of thousands of people are being tested after hundreds of cases linked to the Mahachai seafood market in Thailand’s worst-case yet.
The new cases in Samut Sakhon’s southwest region include 360 migrant workers, mostly from nearby Myanmar.
Seoul to ban gatherings of five or more
The South Korean capital Seoul and surrounding areas will ban most gatherings of five or more later in the week to try to reduce coronavirus cases over the Christmas holidays and of the New Year.
South Korea recorded the highest daily death toll from the coronavirus, health authorities said Monday, as an increase in infections was putting pressure on the health system and prompting police attacks in suspected establishments. they broke physical speed rules
A COVID-19 patient who escaped from a Hong Kong hospital has been arrested
The 63-year-old coronavirus patients who were run away from the isolation ward of Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Hong Kong on December 18 were found and returned.
The patient was taken back to the hospital and is believed to be in stable condition.
Hospital wards have improved patient management and monitoring, increasing security on the floors with loneliness wards and using additional sensations.
Saudi Arabia suspends international flights
Saudi Arabia said it was suspending all flights and suspending entry through its sea and sea ports for at least a week, with the option to extend for another week.
Passengers who arrived in Saudi Arabia from Europe – or any country where the new strain was found – must start on December 8 self-quarantine for two weeks and undergo a test.
Foreign flights currently in the country are allowed to depart.