Australia defends travel ban amid furore

MELBOURNE: Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday defended his government’s decision to ban and impose a jail term and a penalty for Australians trying to return from India, saying it is in the country’s “best interests” and to prevent a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

Australia recently imposed a ban on its citizens from returning home, if they have spent time in India up to 14 days before flying back. The government threatened to prosecute them with a possibility of five years of jail term or a penalty of 66,000 Australian dollars (US$50,899).

While the move has been criticised, Morrison said it is a temporary arrangement. “It has been put in place to ensure we do not get a third wave here in Australia and that our quarantine system can remain strong,” he said, adding that it is in the country’s “best interests”.

The US, meanwhile, set a record for the number of air travellers since the Covid-19 pandemic set in. Nearly 1.67mn people were screened at US airport checkpoints on Sunday. It was the highest number screened since March 12 of last year when air travel began to plummet.

Novavax starts Covid-19 vaccine trials on children

US biotech firm Novavax said on Monday it has started clinical trials of its proposed Covid-19 vaccine on children, in a programme that will involve up to 3,000 adolescents aged 12-17.

Novavax said the trials would test “the efficacy and safety” of the vaccine, with participants receiving either the vaccine candidate or placebo in two doses. The participants will be monitored for up to two years.

Denmark bars J&J vaccine over fears of blood clots

Denmark said it will debar the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from its Covid-19 inoculation drive over worries about blood clots. The Danish Health Authority noted that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) “has concluded that there is a possible link between rare but severe cases of blood clots” and the Johnson & Johnson drug.