UK Covid strain in S Korea, Finland
S Africa first in Africa to cross 1mn cases; Sydney bans crowds at New Year fireworks
SEOUL/SYDNEY: South Korea and Finland on Monday reported the new coronavirus variant first identified in Britain.
South Korean officials vowed to speed up efforts to launch a public vaccination after detecting cases of the new strain, thought to be more contagious than others currently circulating. The strain was found in three people who had entered South Korea from London on December 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Monday.
South Korea will extend a ban on direct flights from Britain for another week until January 7, and will require any passengers arriving from that country or South Africa to undergo testing before departures, officials announced on Monday.
Finland became the latest European country to report the new variant. Health officials said that a Finnish citizen who had recently arrived from Britain for a Christmas holiday was diagnosed in the southeast Kymenlaakso region over the weekend.
The person’s recent connections were traced and his family members have been isolated. Finnish health officials said they believed the variant hasn’t spread further.
International visitors will be barred from entering Indonesia for a two-week period to try to keep out the new virus variant, its foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday.
The new regulation, effective January 1, comes days after Indonesia banned travellers from Britain and tightened rules for those arriving from Europe and Australia to limit the spread of the new strain.
South Africa is 1st African nation with 1mn cases South Africa became the first African nation to log one million cases, official data showed on Sunday, as authorities considered reimposing restrictions to battle a second wave of infections driven by the new variant.
South Africa had three record-breaking days of infections through December 25, when it registered 14,796 new cases. Health minister Zweli Mkhize a day earlier called for stricter measures to curb the spread, which has already battered the economy.
“The government continuously monitors all dimensions of the Covid-19 pandemic and as and when decisions are taken they are communicated publicly,” said Tyrone Seale, acting spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Sydney bans crowds for New Year fireworks
Plans to let thousands of frontline workers ring in the new year around Sydney Harbour were ditched on Monday as authorities work to suppress a growing cluster of virus cases in Australia’s most populous city.
Ordinarily, hundreds of thousands of eager partiers flock to vantage points for the midnight fireworks launched from the
Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Although allowing hordes of revellers had been ruled out this year, officials had plans to welcome around 5,000 workers to the foreshore as a token of thanks for their work against the pandemic. But that idea has now been axed over fears the celebrations could turn into a superspreader event. Permits will be required to enter some parts of the city as celebrations will be limited to controlled events.
Brazil vice president tests positive for virus Hamilton Mourao, Brazil’s vice president, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said on Sunday, when the country registered 344 new Covid-19 deaths.
Mourao, President Jair Bolsonaro’s deputy, is the latest in a long line of senior Brazilian officials to contract the virus. Bolsonaro, a prominent coronavirus sceptic, was infected in July, and recovered. In a statement, Mourão’s office said he tested positive on Sunday afternoon, and that he will isolate in Jaburu, his official residence.