Coronavirus Live News: Biden to Restore Covid Travel Ban as World Approaches 100 Million Cases | World news

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00:54

President of Mexico tests positive for coronavirus

Tom Phillips

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has become the latest world leader to sign Covid-19.

“I am sorry to inform you that I am infected,” the 67-year-old politician announced on Twitter Sunday evening.

Andres Manuel
(@lopezobrador_)

I am sorry to inform you that I have been infected with COVID-19. The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward. Dr. Olga Sánchez Cordero will represent me in the morning to talk about how we are doing every day.


January 25, 2021

“The symptoms are mild, but I receive medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic, ”added López Obrador, a populist nationalist who has been heavily criticized for his handling of the pandemic and his decision to avoid face masks.

Mexico is going through a particularly dire moment with its epidemic, with hospitals in many states stretched to the limit. The country’s daily average number of Covid deaths last week surpassed that of neighboring Brazil, where more than 1,000 deaths are recorded every day.

According to Mexico’s official death toll, nearly 150,000 people have been killed there so far by Covid, the fourth highest in the world. But many suspect that low test numbers mean Mexico’s actual death toll is even higher than Brazil’s, where 217,000 deaths have been recorded.

López Obrador said he would remain in the presidential palace in Mexico City during his treatment, which has been under a red Covid warning since last month.











00:36

Eleanor de Jong

More now from New Zealand.

More than three dozen guests at the Pullman hotel in central Auckland, where the infected woman underwent government-administered isolation, are being held longer in their rooms while the source of the newly confirmed local infection is investigated. Almost all 200 hotel employees have been tested

While health authorities suspect direct contact with the virus – that is, person-to-person – they have not ruled out air or surface contact.

Hundreds of people line up all day long for tests in Whangarei, Northland and Auckland. Test results for these people will be available tomorrow. The director general also said many people who had no symptoms or contact with the infected woman lined up for tests – and asked them to go home so that close contacts could be prioritized.

Covid-19’s response minister said there was news circulating on social media of an impending lockdown. He said this was “fake news” and “not true at all”.











00:30

Experts have called for more clarity on the existing monitoring to assess the 12-week dosing interval for Covid vaccines, as the UK vaccination program ramps up.

According to government data released on Sunday, a total of 6,353,321 people in the UK have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. On Monday a whole series of vaccination centers will open to speed up the delivery of the injections.

These include at the Crick Institute in London, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Lancaster Town Hall, Bath Racecourse and the Black Country Living Museum, where scenes for the Peaky Blinders TV show were filmed.

“These 33 new major vaccine centers will strengthen our existing network and enable the NHS to protect as many people as possible in the coming weeks,” said vaccination minister Nadhim Zahawi.

However, controversy remains over the government’s decision to extend the interval between the two doses of the shots to a maximum of 12 weeks in an effort to protect as many people as possible.

Nicola Davis and Jessica Elgot of The Guardian report:











00:16

Community case confirmed in New Zealand

Eleanor de Jong

A community case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in New Zealand, with genome sequencing identifying it as the South African variant of the virus.

Investigators believe the 56-year-old woman contracted the infection from a fellow guest at the Pullman hotel, where she was isolated by the government.











00:02

World is approaching 100 million cases

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, while the total is rapidly evolving to a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

The current total is 99,105,389 infections. At least 2,127,206 people died.

On average, about 650,000 cases of the coronavirus were reported daily in the past week.











23:40

Israel ‘closes the air’ to air travel to prevent the spread of viruses

Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most inbound and outbound flights in an effort to slow the spread of new coronavirus variants, AFP reports.

The measure starts Monday through Tuesday at midnight and will remain in effect until Sunday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Exceptions are made for cargo and firefighting flights, as well as travel for medical treatment, funerals and legal proceedings.

A panel of officials from the Department of Health and Home Affairs will be able to grant exemptions on request “for humanitarian or personal needs,” the statement said.

The decision came with the country in its third national coronavirus lockdown, which started in late December and extended to the end of the month on Tuesday due to an increase in deaths.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government’s intention to close the airport, as variants of the coronavirus are being detected in increasing numbers.

“We are hermetically sealing the air, with rare exceptions, to prevent virus mutations from entering and to ensure that we make rapid progress on our vaccination campaign,” he said ahead of a cabinet meeting.











23:37

Biden to restore the travel ban and add South Africa

US President Joe Biden will formally restore Covid’s travel restrictions on non-US travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries on Monday, according to two White House officials.

AP: The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the warrant, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list over concerns about a variant of the virus spreading outside that country.

Biden rescinds an order from President Donald Trump in his final days calling for travel restrictions to be relaxed starting Tuesday.

The decision to reverse the order isn’t surprising, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list underscores the new government’s concerns about mutations in the virus.

The South African variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant – native to the United Kingdom – has been found in several states.
Reuters was the first to report Biden’s decision to add South Africa to the list.

Biden issued an executive order last week ordering federal agencies to require international air travelers to be quarantined upon arrival in the US. The order also requires all US passengers 2 years and older to receive negative test results within three days of departure.

Updated











23:34

Overview

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, while the total is rapidly evolving to a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

According to two White House officials, President Joe Biden will formally reinstate travel restrictions in the US on Monday for non-American travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the warrant, also confirmed on Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list due to concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread outside that country.

Here are the other major developments in recent hours:

  • Israel is going to ban passenger flights in an effort to prevent imports of Covid variants, which will take effect for two weeks from 10pm Monday
  • Greek health authorities have reported an increase in the number of cases of the coronavirus variant first spotted in the UK, with 32 infections detected.
  • The UK has reported an additional 30,004 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases, according to government data. This compares with 38,598 registered cases last Sunday.
  • Jeremy Hunt, the former UK health secretary, has echoed calls from epidemiologists pushing for the use of medical masks to be mandatory on public transport and in shops.
  • Serbia has discovered its first case of the British coronavirus variant, in a woman who has traveled from London, but no new lockdown is planned in the country, President Aleksandar Vučić said.
  • Airbus has announced that about 500 workers have been quarantined following an outbreak at the Hamburg aircraft factory in which 21 workers tested positive, according to Reuters.
  • Police used water cannons and dogs against protesters after hundreds gathered on a square in the center of Amsterdam on Sunday to protest a new curfew for the coronavirus.
  • France likely to enter a third lockdown due to the spread of new coronavirus variants in the country, said the government’s top medical adviser to Covid-19’s policy.
  • Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will call Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Mexico’s purchase of Sputnik V vaccine. the Mexican government said on Sunday.
  • France has reported 18,436 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, against 23,924 on Saturday. Today’s figure is higher than last Sunday’s, when 16,642 infections were recorded.
  • Ecuador has approved the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccinee, the health ministry said on Sunday.

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