UK opens quarantine hotels, pushes on with vaccine drive
Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels received their first guests on Monday as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants from derailing its fast-moving vaccination drive.
Passengers arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport were escorted by security guards to buses that took them to nearby hotels.
Some of the travellers said they had tried and failed to make it to Britain before Monday to avoid the quarantine.
Zari Tadayon, who flew to Heathrow from Dubai and was taken to the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near the airport, said she had hoped she would be allowed to quarantine at her home in London. She said she felt “horrible” about the enforced 10-day hotel stay. “How I’m going to cope I don’t know. It’s going to be tough,” she said.
Critics, however, say Britain’s quarantine hotels are being set up too late, with the South African variant already circulating in the UK.
Britain is aiming for a “cautious but irreversible” plan to exit coronavirus lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), in cooperation with the Ministry of Community Development and local social service departments in each emirate, is providing at-home COVID-19 vaccination service for elderly citizens and residents.
Dr Hussein Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Under-secretary for Centres and Health Clinics, said, “The Ministry continues to provide the vaccine in most of its health facilities, with a particular atention to the most vulnerable groups, including elderly citizens and residents, and persons with chronic illnesses to maintain their health and safety.”
Abdulla Bin Mohamed Al Hamed, Chairman of the Department of Health — Abu Dhabi (DOH), visited Burjeel Medical City’s drive-through vaccination centre located in MBZ city.
During his visit, he toured the vaccination centre, which allows those wishing to get vaccinated to complete all related procedures including vital signs check-ups and completing the approval from within a period not exceeding 20 minutes, all from the comfort of their cars. The centre can accommodate up to 700 people per day and offers the vaccine to about 60 people per hour.
On Monday, the UAE Ministry of Health reported 3,123 new coronavirus cases and 13 deaths.
MOHAP also noted that an additional 4,892 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19. The ministry has also announced that 31,604 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours.
The World Health Organisation ( WHO) on Monday listed Astrazeneca and Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, widening access to the relatively inexpensive shot in the developing world.
“We now have all the pieces in place for the rapid distribution of vaccines. But we still need to scale up production,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-general, told a news briefing.
“We continue to call for COVID19 vaccine developers to submit their dossiers to WHO for review at the same time as they submit them to regulators in high-income countries,” he said.
India could approve Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 within the next few weeks, the RIA news agency cited India’s ambassador to Moscow as saying on Monday.
Pakistan federal minister asad umar announced on Monday that the government would start administering COVID-19 vaccine to the citizens of 65 and above from next month.
“Pleased to announce that registration for geting Covid vaccine is now open for all citizens 65 and above. Just write down [yo]ur CNIC number and send message on 1166. Inshallah vaccinations for this age group will start in March,” he said in a tweet.
The Philippines government on Monday gave in to the demand of Metro Manila mayors and agreed to delay the reopening of cinemas amid warnings from health experts that it would put more people at risk to the coronavirus pandemic.
There are several variants of the coronavirus that might reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whity said on Monday.
“There were several variants that look very similar to one another in many ways, which actually could have slightly reduced ... or in some cases, more than slightly reduced, effectiveness from the vaccine,” Whity said.
Elderly citizens and residents can get jabs at home in the UAE; vaccine in 20 minutes at new drive-through centre in Abu Dhabi; country reports 13 deaths and 3,123 new cases; WHO clears Astrazeneca/ Oxford vaccine; Manila delays reopening of cinemas.