Biden gets tough on virus

NEW MEASURES: US PRESIDENT TAKES STEPS TO SLOW INFECTION RATES

Reverses Trump’s decision to quit World Health Organisation with immediate effect.

In his first full day as US president, Joe Biden tackled his country’s staggering coronavirus caseload with a spate of new measures, including mask-wearing and quarantining requirements, as European Union (EU) leaders “strongly discouraged” their constituents from nonessential travel.

Before signing 10 executive orders to strengthen the US fight against Covid-19, Biden confirmed he had reversed his predecessor Donald Trump’s decision to quit the World Health Organisation.

Under the new measures, travellers to the US, in addition to needing a negative Covid test result before flying, will now need to quarantine upon arrival, Biden said. This toughened existing regulations under Trump.

Biden’s other orders included re-energising a stumbling vaccination programme and expanding requirements to wear masks on public transport.

The longtime politician was a fierce critic of Trump’s approach to handling the virus in the US, which with more than 400 000 people dead is the world’s worsthit nation.

The new president is seeking to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days, increase the use of masks and testing, expand the public health workforce and offer more emergency relief to those struggling with the restrictions.

On Thursday alone, the US registered 4 045 new deaths and more than 192 000 new cases over the past 24 hours.

With infection rates spiralling and vaccine campaigns still in their infancy – and with the global death toll now past two million – countries from Lebanon to Sierra Leone are tightening restrictions.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Council president Charles Michel encouraged Europeans to refrain from nonessential travel on Thursday, while warning that tougher restrictions on movement could come within days if efforts to curb the coronavirus fall short.

After a four-hour summit by video link with the heads of government of the 27-nation bloc, they emphasised the EU wanted

to avoid a repeat of the height of the first wave, in March last year.

“All nonessential travel should be strongly discouraged both within the country and of course across borders,” Von der Leyen told a media conference.

Brazil announced yesterday that it would finally receive two million doses of the British AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine that were made in India.

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