The coronavirus vaccination campaign was cut short in several German cities as doubts arose about the compliance with the cold chain requirements for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
EU nations have kicked off a coordinated effort to give COVID-19 vaccinations to adults among their 450 million citizens, a moment of hope on the continent.
Meanwhile, fears grow over a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading across the UK with Japan barring the entry of all non-resident foreign nationals as a precaution against the strain.
Thailand, meanwhile, is scrambling to contain a COVID outbreak connected to a seafood market in a southern province, and residents of Sydney – Australia’s largest city – are awaiting word on whether any public New Year’s Eve celebrations will be allowed.
Here are the latest updates:
COVID in besieged Gaza: ‘A blockade inside a blockade’
Eight years ago, the United Nations warned that the Gaza Strip would not be a “liveable place” by 2020, urging Israel to lift its years-long blockade against the Palestinian coastal enclave and calling for a “herculean effort” to improve basic services there.
But Israel and Egypt have continued the crippling air, land and sea blockade imposed in 2007, mostly isolating the territory’s nearly two million residents from the rest of the world.
When 2020 arrived, the conditions in Gaza were marked by water and medicine shortages as well as a severe power crisis, with residents of the enclave receiving only up to six hours of electricity per day, a situation some called “no longer tolerable”.
Read more here.
New variant detected in Portugal’s Madeira island
The new variant of the coronavirus linked to a rapid rise in infections in Britain has been detected on the Portuguese island of Madeira, the regional civil protection authority said.
In a statement, the authority said the new variant was “detected in travellers who arrived in Madeira from the United Kingdom” but it did not specify how many people were infected with it.
Cold chain doubts delay COVID-19 vaccinations in some German cities
Germany’s coronavirus vaccination campaign faced delays in several cities on Sunday after medical staff found potential irregularities in the cooling of the shot produced by BioNTech and Pfizer .
“When reading the temperature loggers that were enclosed in the cool boxes, doubts arose about the compliance with the cold chain requirements”, the District Office of Lichtenfels in the north of Germany’s largest state Bavaria said in a statement.
The Pfizer vaccine, which uses new so-called mRNA technology, must be stored at ultra-low temperatures of about -70 degrees Celsius (-112°F) to remain effective before being shipped to distribution centres.
The German Armed Forces vaccination team prepares for vaccination at the Agaplesion Bethanien Sophienhaus nursing home in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, December 27, 2020 [Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Pool/AP]Oman launches vaccination campaign
Oman started coronavirus vaccinations, two days ahead of plans to resume all flights and open borders that temporarily closed amid concerns over a new strain of the disease.
The sultanate – which has recorded the second highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia – is the last of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) to begin inoculating people.
Like most of its neighbours it has opted for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Iran reports the lowest daily deaths from coronavirus in more than three months
Iran has reported 119 deaths from the new coronavirus, the lowest daily fatalities in more than three months, the health ministry said.
Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state television that 5,502 people had been infected in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Middle East’s worst-affected country to 1,200,465.
Sunday’s death toll was the lowest since September 12 when it registered 116 deaths.
A total of 1,200,465 COVID-19 cases have been registered in the Middle East’s worst-affected country since the pandemic started [Reuters]Dubai cuts 2021 budget as pandemic impacts economy
Dubai expects to cut its budget to $15.5bn in 2021 after its economy was impacted by a plunge in tourism and other sectors amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The emirate, one of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates, had posted a record $18.1bn budget for 2020.
“The newly-announced budget takes into account the exceptional economic conditions of the fiscal year 2020 and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy,” said a statement by the Dubai Media Office.
The emirate, one of seven that make up the UAE, posted a $18.1bn budget for 2020 [Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters]Thai hospital banned from offering to sell COVID-19 vaccine
A private Thai hospital has been ordered to stop advance advertising of COVID-19 vaccinations for sale on the grounds that no vaccine is yet approved in Thailand.
Vibhavadi Hospital told Reuters its online offer for 1,000 initial reservations for the two-dose Moderna vaccine had been the result of a misunderstanding. With reservations priced at 4,000 baht, the total cost of getting vaccinated would have been 10,000 baht ($330).
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that no COVID-19 vaccine had been approved for use in Thailand yet and that advertising one violated hospital regulations. “The removal of the advertisement was ordered,” it said.
COVID-19 cases top 80 million worldwide
More than 80 million confirmed cases of coronavirus have been detected worldwide since the pandemic began a year ago and 1.76 million deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally
In total, 80,412,311 cases and 1,758,886 deaths have been recorded. Last week, an average of 580,000 new cases were registered every day.
Europe is the world’s hardest-hit region, passing the 25-million mark on Friday and with 546,000 deaths.
Beijing tightens COVID-19 curbs as cases detected across capital
Beijing has tightened COVID-19 curbs over concerns that China’s mass travel during the holiday period could cause a spike in the capital, as it reported locally transmitted cases for a fourth straight day on Sunday.
A meeting led by the capital’s Communist party boss, Cai Qi, urged all districts in Beijing to enter “emergency” mode, sealing off residential compounds and villages where infections are found.
China’s southern technology hub of Shenzhen reported one asymptomatic case on Sunday, a patient who made two business trips to Beijing this month.
Israel speeds vaccines, locks down in hope of March exit from pandemic
Israel will enter what officials hope will be its last coronavirus lockdown on Sunday as they ramp up vaccinations to a pace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said may allow an emergence from the pandemic by March.
If realised, this could help Netanyahu’s re-election hopes after missteps that include lifting the first lockdown with a premature declaration of victory in May, inconsistent enforcement of curbs and sluggish economic relief.
After beginning vaccinations a week before the EU’s roll-out on Sunday, Israel’s centralised health system is administering about 70,000 shots a day. Netanyahu wants that raised to 150,000 by the end of the week with the opening of 24/7 vaccination stations among proposals.
Israel will enter what officials hope will be its last coronavirus lockdown on Sunday [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]A 96-year-old is first Spaniard vaccinated for COVID-19
Araceli Hidalgo, who lives in the Los Olmos retirement home in Guadalajara, became the first person to be vaccinated in central Spain, in an event broadcast by national television.
She felt “nothing” from the shot, Hidalgo said with a smile after being injected.
Then the pensioner with the cropped white hair pulled on her black jacket, got up slowly, and walked off using a frame for support.
Los Olmos nursing home resident Araceli, 96, receives the first injection nationwide in Spain [Reuters]Woman at care home first to get vaccinated in Sweden
Gun-Britt Johnsson was the first person in Sweden to be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The 91-year-old lives at a nursing home in Mjolby, 230 kilometres (143 miles) south-west of Stockholm.
“I didn’t feel anything,” she said after the jab, which was broadcast by public broadcaster SVT.
Russia reports 28,284 new coronavirus cases
Russia has reported 28,284 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 3,050,248 after it crossed the 3 million mark on the previous day.
Russia’s coronavirus crisis centre said 552 coronavirus patients had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall national coronavirus death toll to 54,778.
Italy kicks off vaccinations in Rome
Almost 10 months after the first Italian patient tested positive for the new coronavirus, Italy has administered its first COVID vaccines.
Three health workers at the Rome Spallanzani hospital were inoculated shortly before 07:00 GMT with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a statement by the commissioner for the epidemic Domenico Arcuri said.
“The vaccine went very well and it was an exciting, historical moment,” 29-year-old nurse Claudia Aliverini told state-owned television RAINEWS24.
“It is the beginning of the end and I hope to be the first of over 60 million Italians”.
Alivernini, one of the first recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine in Italy, receives her vaccination at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome [Reuters]Cyprus starts rollout of COVID-19 vaccine
Cyprus has started vaccinating its population against COVID-19.
Pensioners at homes in the capital Nicosia and the towns of Larnaca and Limassol were the first to receive a shot of the two-dose vaccine, which arrived by air on Saturday.
Cyprus has reported 19,391 cases of the novel coronavirus, and 111 deaths.
Boxes of Pfizer-BioNtech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines arrive at an undisclosed location in Nicosia, Cyprus [File:Reuters]Czech republic starts rollout of coronavirus vaccine
The Czech Republic has started administering vaccinations against the virus.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Central Military Hospital in Prague, just before other hospitals in the capital and second-largest city Brno started to distribute the 9,750 doses the country has received so far.
“The vaccine which arrived from the European Union yesterday, that is a hope, a hope that we will return to a normal life,” Babis said before taking the jab.
Prime Minister Babis of the Czech Republic receives the first injection nationwide [David W Cerny/Reuters]EU begins vaccine roll-out
Several EU nations have started vaccinating their most vulnerable groups as a new coronavirus variant spread internationally and the WHO warned that the current pandemic will not be the last.
The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab arrived in hard-hit Italy, Spain and France on Saturday, ready for distribution to retirement homes and care staff.
The approval and roll-out of vaccines have boosted hopes that 2021 could bring a respite from the pandemic, which has killed more than 1.7 million people since emerging in China late last year.
Thailand’s COVID-19 outbreak grows
Thailand confirmed 121 new infections of the novel coronavirus, a senior official said, up from the 103 cases reported earlier in the day.
Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the country’s COVID-19 pandemic task force, said at a briefing that the new cases include 94 domestic transmissions and 18 in migrant workers connected to an outbreak at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon, a province southwest of Bangkok.
Infections connected to this cluster have spread to 38 provinces.
Japan halts all foreign arrivals over UK variant
Japan is barring entry of all nonresident foreign nationals as a precaution against a new and potentially more contagious coronavirus variant that is spreading across the UK.
The foreign ministry says the entry ban will start Monday and last through January 31.
Sydney awaits verdict on New Year’s festivities
Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak continued on Sunday with more than a quarter of a million people in lockdown as Australia’s largest city awaited word on whether any public New Year’s Eve celebrations will be allowed.
Seven COVID-19 cases were reported in New South Wales state, six linked directly to the outbreak in Sydney’s northern beach suburbs, which are under a stay-at-home order until Wednesday. Infections stand at 122.
“We hope to have some clear information for everybody tomorrow, or the latest the day after, on what the New Year’s Eve and the next weeks will look like,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a news conference.
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2020-12-27 14:37:30Z
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