Infectious cases of variant strains of the new crown pneumonia virus have appeared in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Japan, and many European countries. Starting from Monday (December 28), the European Union has initiated mass vaccination and Japan has suspended non-permanent residents One month of entry, air travel between China and Britain is prohibited for 14 days.
European Commission President von der Lein tweeted on Saturday announcing that a total of more than 2 billion doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been ordered from multiple drug dealers and have been shipped to 27 member states. The mass vaccination officially started on Sunday. However, some countries have already started universal vaccination on their own on Saturday.
The EU has a population of 446 million. The latest data shows 14 million cases of new crown infection and 335,000 deaths. Most member states have implemented strict epidemic prevention and isolation measures.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China issued an announcement on Sunday, requiring airlines operating scheduled passenger flights between China and the United Kingdom to suspend operations on scheduled passenger routes from 0:00 on Monday (28th) to 24:00 on January 10, 2021. Many countries have already imposed bans or travel restrictions on the UK. Japan announced that it will temporarily suspend the entry of most non-resident foreigners for one month.
The highly contagious COVID-19 variant strain was first discovered in the UK. Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and France have all reported confirmed cases of the new variant and are related to people visiting from the UK. Japan has previously reported that five travelers have been diagnosed with infection, all of them visiting from the UK. Two more confirmed cases in Japan since then, one of which is said to be a local infection.
A couple in Ontario, Canada were found to be diagnosed, but they have no known travel history or high-risk exposure history.
Virus mutation
Last week, news about new variants of the virus caused travel restrictions in many parts of the world. At the same time, several EU countries have begun to vaccinate the people with the new crown vaccine, earlier than the EU planned to launch the vaccine. Health officials in northeastern Germany stated that they were not prepared to wait another day and decided to distribute the newly approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in advance. They were the first to vaccinate the elderly in a nursing home in Halberstad.
The official Hungarian media stated that the first person to be vaccinated was a doctor at Del-Pest Central Hospital. The Slovakian authorities also stated that they have started vaccinations. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has posted a video on Twitter to celebrate the launch of the vaccine, calling it a "moving moment of unity."
0 Comments