A staff member from Coronationville Secondary School distribute food portions and gifts in Coronationville, Johannesburg, on Dec 23, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

LONDON / RABAT / QUITO / ADDIS ABABA - South Africa's government rejected allegations that a new variant of the coronavirus found in the country has contributed to a second wave of infections in the UK and criticized its decision to impose travel restrictions.

A new virus variant that was detected in the UK has a mutation occurring at a site common with the South African strain, known as 501.V2, but they are "two completely independent lineages," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement late Thursday. There’s no evidence that 501.V2 causes more severe disease or increased mortality than any other variant that's been sequenced around the world, he said.

Mkhize's comments came a day after UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that flights from South Africa will be banned and that anyone who's been there in the past two weeks must quarantine immediately. Several other countries have also halted flights from South Africa.

The new UK strain was identified about a month before the South African variant appeared to have developed, Mkhize said, citing ongoing research by the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, which was launched in June. He described Hancock’s announcement as “unfortunate.”
South Africa reported a record number of new infections for a second consecutive day, with cases jumping by 14,305 to a cumulative total of 968,563, the health ministry said in a statement late Wednesday. The number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 who have died rose by 326 to 25,983. 

UK

The British government on Wednesday said huge swathes of England would be placed under its strictest COVID-19 restrictions as a highly infectious virus variant sweeps the country, pushing the number of cases to a record level.

Britain reported almost 40,000 new infections as the mutated variant of the coronavirus, which could be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original, causes the number of cases and hospital admissions to soar.

The number of recorded deaths - 744 - was also the highest figure since April.

“Against this backdrop of rising infections, rising hospitalizations and rising numbers of people dying from coronavirus, it is absolutely vital that we act,” health minister Matt Hancock told a media briefing. “We simply cannot have the kind of Christmas that we all yearn for.”

On Saturday, tight social mixing restrictions measures were brought in for London, southeast England and Wales while plans to ease curbs over Christmas across the nation were either dramatically scaled back or scrapped altogether.

Hancock said from Dec. 26, many more parts of southern England would be also be added to the highest level of social mixing restrictions, joining the 16 million already in Tier 4, while other areas across the country currently in lower tiers would also face tighter curbs.

The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have already announced that nearly everyone living in those countries would be subjected to the highest level of restrictions after Christmas.

Hancock said there was on average 1909 COVID hospital admissions a day, with 18,943 people currently in hospital with the coronavirus, levels not seen since the peak of the first outbreak in April.

The UK and France agreed to keep the key Dover-Calais trade crossing, including Eurotunnel, open over Christmas. Both ports will remain operational to allow hauliers and citizens to “return home as soon as possible,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter Wednesday morning. Coronavirus testing will also continue in Kent, the county where Dover is located, he said.

US

The US government will require all airline passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure starting Monday amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant that may be more transmissible.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that all airline passengers arriving from the UK must test negative in order to fly to the United States. The decision was a turnaround after the Trump administration told US airlines on Tuesday it was not planning to require any testing for arriving UK passengers.

The decision follows the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant in Britain that has prompted many countries to shut their borders to travelers from there.

The US could reach as many as 419,000 Covid-19 deaths by Jan 16, the Centers for Disease Control said in a forecast based on projections from 36 modeling groups. The lower end of the forecast was 378,000 deaths. Total US deaths since the start of the pandemic are now more than 327,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

France

New virus cases in France jumped by 21,634 in the last 24 hours, according to data by Sante Publique France. It’s the largest single day increase since Nov 20. But the positivity rate of the tests has been steadily decreasing, and it now stands at 3.8 percent, down from 6.4 percent on Dec 8.

The French have rushed to get tested ahead of the holiday season and family gatherings.

France’s National Authority for Health on Thursday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 for people age 16 and older. The vaccination campaign kicks off on Sunday in Sevran near Paris and Dijon.

French President Emmanuel Macron is no longer showing COVID-19 symptoms, his office said in a statement. Macron has continued to work throughout his illness and will remain in isolation for another seven days, the Elysee Palace said. Macron tested positive on Dec 17.

ALSO READ: France allows Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Germany

Germany has identified its first case of a variant of the coronavirus that emerged in the UK that may be more transmissible that other strains.

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was discovered in a woman who traveled to Baden-Wuerttemberg from London via Frankfurt on Dec 20, according to a spokesman for the state’s health ministry. The woman has shown mild symptoms and is isolating along with three others she came into contact with, he added.

Italy

Italy surpassed 2 million virus cases Thursday, with 18,040 new infections and 505 deaths reported. The positive-test rate rose slighter to 9.3 percent from 8.3 percent while the number of deaths remains in line with previous days.

Italy on Thursday entered a nationwide red zone of very high risks forced by a spike in COVID-19, which is set to remain in place through Christmas and New Year's Day to Jan 6.

Red zone rules include a ban on travel between regions, a 10 p.m. to 5 am curfew, closure of shops, bars and restaurants, as well as an urge for keeping holiday gatherings at home to a minimum of two adult visitors.

To contain the second wave of COVID-19, the government has categorized Italy as three color-coded areas, namely yellow, orange and red, with different levels of restrictions corresponding to the severity of virus transmission.

Areas with uncontrolled transmission that stretches the national health system beyond capacity are defined red, with the toughest anti-virus limits in place, said the Ministry of Health. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Dec 18 announced the designation of the entire country as a red zone over the holidays to stem the virus spread.

Infections as of Thursday stood at 593,632 in this country with a population of about 60 million, the ministry said, adding that 505 patients succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday, pushing the overall fatalities up to 70,395 since the pandemic started.

Among the positive cases, 566,973 with light or no symptoms were quarantined at home, 24,070 hospitalized with symptoms, and 2,589 in intensive care units.

Mexico

Mexico administered the first COVID-19 vaccine in Latin America on Thursday morning in a live broadcast from a hospital shown at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s daily press briefing.

The government will vaccinate close to 3,000 people today with Pfizer Inc. shots, which is all that arrived in Mexico on Wednesday, in what authorities are calling a trial run. Pfizer is expected to ship close to 50,000 more doses to Mexico next week.

Chile and Costa Rica are also expected to start their vaccination campaigns using Pfizer shots on Thursday.

Morocco

Morocco has secured acquisition of 65 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from two suppliers, Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb announced on Thursday during the weekly cabinet meeting.

The North African country is aiming for a mass vaccination of 25 million people or 80 percent of its total population.

The two vaccines secured by Morocco are developed by China's Sinopharm and Britain's Oxford University and AstraZeneca, the minister said.

Preparations for the vaccination campaign have reached a "very advanced" stage, Ait Taleb said, adding that all the targeted population will get the vaccine for free.

Brazil

Brazil registered 762 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 189,982, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.

In its daily pandemic report, the Ministry of Health also reported 58,428 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours, for a total of 7,423,945 cases since Feb. 26, when Latin America's first case was detected in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

READ MORE: Virus testing chaos infuriates stranded truckers in English port

Ecuador

The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 926 new cases of infection and 14 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the previous 24 hours, for a total caseload of 208,010 and a death toll of 9,427.

The death toll may be close to 14,000 as another 4,550 deaths are suspected of being COVID-19 related.

Community spread of the virus continues throughout the country, with higher rates of transmission in Quito, the capital, which has a total of 68,141 cases.

Costa Rica

A 91-year-old woman became the first person in Costa Rica on Thursday to receive the vaccine against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, after the first 9,750 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived Wednesday night.

Elizabeth Castillo received the first dose, along with Jorge de Ford, 72, in addition to Dr. Jose Acuna and nurse Tatiana Sancho, who work at the Specialized Center for the Care of Patients with COVID-19.

The president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, celebrated the application of the first vaccines and highlighted the effort that his country made to be the second in Latin America, after Mexico, to receive the first doses.

"This moment represents for the country the beginning of the path to end the COVID-19 pandemic," said the president, who was on hand for the application of vaccines at an extended-stay center for the elderly, accompanied by Minister of Health Daniel Salas and the executive president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, Roman Macaya.

"This is the best Christmas gift that can be given to the Costa Rican population because hope and energy return to redouble efforts to end the pandemic and move forward," said Alvarado.

Costa Rica has registered 161,942 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, of which 2,065 have died.

Chile

Chile's Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 2,395 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the last 24 hours, amid high hopes for the country's just-launched vaccination drive.

Immunization began early in the day, following the arrival of the first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

"This first stage (of vaccination) should not make us forget that the virus will continue to be present for a long time, to maintain physical distance, use a face mask and wash our hands," Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said.

Tunisia

Tunisia suspended flights from Denmark due to the new COVID-19 strain on Thursday, Tunisian Ministry of Transport and Logistics said.

The ban is effective until further notice and affects passengers who are either arriving from Denmark or have passed through Denmark, the ministry said.

Colombia 

Colombia registered a record 14,940 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,559,766, the country's health authorities said Thursday.

The country also reported 280 new deaths, raising the national death toll to 41,454, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said in an update, adding that 1,417,316 people have so far recovered.

The Colombian government has extended the health emergency until Feb. 28, 2021, urging people to avoid crowds and adopt safety measures.

Africa

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent has reached 2,570,886 as of Thursday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll from the pandemic stood at 60,882, while a total of 2,157,742 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Thursday afternoon.

The most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Ethiopia, figures from the Africa CDC showed.

South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases, which hit 954,258.

Rwanda

The Rwandan Ministry of Health on Thursday inaugurated a COVID-19 testing laboratory at Kigali International Airport, the country's major airport in capital city Kigali, to ease service delivery for travellers to Rwanda.

"Unlike previously when samples for incoming travellers were taken at designated hotels, all passengers will be tested at the airport and get their results within 24 hours," Health Minister Daniel Ngamije told journalists at the launch event.

The laboratory has the capacity to test about 1,000 samples a day, according to the minister.

"With a growing number of travellers, a lot of time was wasted taking samples at hotels yet testing was done elsewhere at the national laboratory. This sometimes led to delays in releasing the results," said Ngamije, adding that travellers will still wait for the results at their designated hotels.

Switzerland 

Switzerland has discovered the new variant that’s been spreading in the UK, the Swiss health ministry said on Dec 24. The strain was found in positive tests of two people who live in the UK and traveled to Switzerland.

Georgia 

Georgia reported 1,881 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing its total to 218,724, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) said.

Among the new cases, 863 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, it said.

As of Friday, 196,220 recoveries have been reported, said the center, adding that over 1,830,000 tests have been conducted nationwide so far.

Russia 

Russia registered 29,018 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 2,992,706, the country's COVID-19 response center said in a statement Friday.

It said that 563 new deaths were reported, taking the nationwide count to 53,659.

According to the statement, 2,398,254 people have so far recovered, including 27,397 recoveries reported over the past day.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, reported 7,315 new cases, taking its tally of infections to 772,104, the response center said.

Egypt 

Egypt reported on Thursday late night 1,021 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total cases registered in the country to 128,993, said the Egyptian Health Ministry.

It is the first time in over five months for Egypt's coronavirus daily cases to surpass 1,000 since the country reported 1,025 infections on July 8.

Meanwhile, 51 patients died in Egypt from the viral disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll in the country to 7,260, while 513 others recovered, increasing the total recoveries to 108,474, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.