India and Pakistan flights to remain suspended: Emirates
UAE records 1,542 new cases, 4 deaths; England to lift last virus restrictions on July 19; Thailand imposes tougher curbs, to mix Sinovac, Astrazeneca vaccine; Delta found in more than 104 countries.
Dubai-based Emirates Airlines on Monday extended the suspension of flights for India and Pakistan until July 21, 2021.
The suspension of inbound flights also includes Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The airlines on its website said that according to government directives, it won’t be carrying passengers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka until July 21, 2021.
It also said that requests to travel to the UAE from any passenger who has been connected with any of these countries in the last 14 days won’t be accepted
UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions are exempt from this rule.
The airline has advised all affected passengers to hold on to their tickets and get in touch with it once the flights resume.
Emirates says it regrets any inconvenience caused to the passengers.
The UAE has made it clear that only vaccinated residents will be allowed to enter the country.
The UAE authorities have approved the Covishield vaccine for Indian travellers.
In the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 238,114 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours, using state-of-the-art medical testing equipment.
The MOHAP announced 1,542 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 651,762.
MOHAP also announced 4 deaths due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 1,870.
Theministryexpresseditssincerecondolencesto the families of the deceased and wished COVID-19 patients a speedy and full recovery. It called on all members of the society to cooperate with health authorities, adhere to the instructions and physical distance to ensure the health and safety of all.
MOHAP also noted that an additional 1,519 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 629,809.
The MOHAP has announced that 34,536 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours.
The total number of doses provided up to today stands at 15,968,660 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 161.46 doses per 100 people.
All remaining lockdown restrictions in England will be lited in a week despite a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Monday. He said it was “the right moment to proceed” as schools close for summer vacation but urged people to “proceed with caution.”
Johnson said although risks of the pandemic remain, legal restrictions will be replaced by a recommendation that people wear masks in crowded places and on public transport. Nightclubs and other venues with crowds should use vaccine passports for entry “as a mater of social responsibility,” he added.
The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving catastrophic waves of cases” in countries with low vaccination rates.
Delta has been found in more than 104 countries and is soon expected to become the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide, said Tedros.
A 90-year-old Belgian woman who died from COVID-19 in March had contracted two variants of coronavirus at the same time, which is believed to be the first documented case of its kind, a scientific congress and Belgian media said on Sunday.
The case, discussed at this year’s European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), shows that it is possible to catch two COVID-19 variants simultaneously, the society that organised the congress said in a statement.
The society said the woman became sick with Alpha and Beta types first identified in Britain and South Africa and her doctors said she could have contracted the infections from two different people.
Thailand will use Astrazeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine as a second dose for those who received Sinovac’s shot as their first dose in a bid to increase protection, it said on Monday.
The move is the first publicly announced mixand-match of a Chinese vaccine and a Westerndeveloped shot, as a new preliminary Thai study raised doubts about the longer-term protection of the two-dose course Sinovac vaccine.