Trucks parked near the Port of Dover Ltd in Dover, UK, Dec 22, 2020. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

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MINSK / KAMPALA / ZAGREB / BRATISLAVA - The European Commission called on member states to reopen critical trade and passenger transport links to the UK while discouraging non-essential travel, a step toward ending the chaos at Britain’s busiest port.

The Brussels-based commission said in a statement that freight transport to and from the UK must be allowed to continue uninterrupted but that any unnecessary journeys should be avoided “until further notice.”

“Flight and train bans should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions,” the EU’s executive arm said on Tuesday.

The British government is desperately trying to re-open trade routes to France after a day of cross-Channel political bartering failed to end the impasse. France shut down freight traffic from Dover in southeast England at midnight on Sunday because of fear over a faster-spreading mutant strain of COVID-19 that forced the UK government to impose a strict lockdown on London and surrounding areas.

Spain and Portugal, meanwhile, are among more than 40 countries restricting flights and effectively isolating the UK.

European Union ambassadors are set to discuss the recommendation later on Tuesday, and the bloc’s governments have previously vowed to coordinate their response.

ALSO READ: COVID-19: S. Africa identifies new strain causing surge in cases

UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Monday announced the launch of a COVID-19 vaccine market dashboard, an interactive tool to follow the developments of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 vaccine market and the efforts of the COVAX Facility to ensure fair and equitable access for every country in the world.

The dashboard provides a regularly updated overview of the global research and development pipeline, the projected production capacity, publicly announced bilateral and multilateral supply agreements, as well as reported price points, said UNICEF.

In 2021, the dashboard will provide an update on the status of procurement by UNICEF and other buyers participating in the COVAX Facility. It will also track the status of deliveries by UNICEF and other participating national and institutional buyers, it said.

ALSO READ: Pfizer, BioNTech vaccine wins European backing

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 77.4 million while the global death toll has exceeded 1.7 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

US

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 18 million on Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The US' caseload rose to 18,006,061, including 319,190 deaths, as of 6:22 pm local time (2322 GMT), according to the data.

There are no intensive care beds available in densely populated Southern California or the state’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, together home to nearly 30 million people, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday. Newsom said he had requested help from nurses, doctors and medical technicians in the US military, and is hoping that 200 people can be deployed. 

US President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, received the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, as the nation's tally surpassed 18 million

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, received the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, joining a list of US political leaders who’ve sought to boost public confidence in the shot.

The National Institutes of Health plans to begin a clinical trial that aims to help doctors “predict and manage” allergic reactions related to the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, according to Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the US vaccine program.

Later in the day, the House of Representatives passed an US$900-billion aid package, sending the bill to the Senate, which is expected to approve it shortly after.

In another development, the government is considering requiring that all passengers traveling from the United Kingdom receive a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure as a condition of entry, airline and US officials briefed on the matter said.

In New York, all three airlines that fly from the UK to New York - British Airways, Delta and Virgin Airlines - have agreed to test for COVID-19, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.

US President-elect Joe Biden receives his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, on Dec 21, 2020. (CAROLYN KASTER / AP)

UK

The United Kingdom’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, warned the public to stay local to keep the new coronavirus strain in check, but said some areas of England will face tighter restrictions with the variant likely to spread across the country.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who ordered London and much of southeast England into lockdown over the weekend, Vallance said current vaccines should work against the latest COVID-19 mutation.

READ MORE: BioNTech confident virus shot effective against new UK mutation

The UK reported 33,364 new cases and 215 additional deaths, bringing its tally to 2,073,511 and the toll to 67,616, according to official figures released Monday.

Demand for the UK’s coronavirus test kits will outweigh supply in coming weeks, the Financial Times reported, citing an internal government document it has seen.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that Britain and France are working to unblock the cross-channel trade "as fast as possible," after the French government banned the entry of trucks from Britain amid concerns over the new virus variant.

The BBC cited France’s Europe Minister Clément Beaune as saying that Britain and France would announce a deal to restart freight by Wednesday.

Africa 

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent reached 2,508,815 as of Monday while the death toll stood at 59,099, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

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.

The African Union (AU) Commission has recently called on its member states to prioritize the rollout of rapid antigen testing as part of an urgent effort to increase national COVID-19 testing capacity and better manage the pandemic, so as to achieve positivity test rates of less than 5 percent.

As the continent envisaged for global partnership towards adequate access to COVID-19 vaccines, a newly published Africa CDC survey revealed the predominant majority of Africans would take a COVID-19 vaccine if it were deemed safe and effective.

READ MORE: On Congo's muddy trails, lessons for a global COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Vatican

Two Vatican cardinals, including one who spends most of his time helping Rome’s homeless, have tested positive for the coronavirus, a Vatican source said on Tuesday.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, 57, a Pole who manages Pope Francis’ charities and has the title of the Vatican’s almoner, was hospitalised for treatment of the onset of pneumonia.

Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, 78, the governor of Vatican City, tested positive and is believed to be in self-isolation in his home in the Vatican, the source said.

It was not immediately clear if either or both attended an event on Monday at which members of the Vatican’s central administration, known as the Curia, exchanged Christmas greetings with the pope. There was no official Vatican confirmation of the two cardinals’ test results.

Pope Francis will read his Christmas message from inside the Vatican instead of from the outdoor central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica because of new coronavirus restrictions in Italy, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

In addition to the Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) message, five addresses that were to have been delivered from a window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square between Dec 26 and Jan 6 also will be moved indoors.

The restrictions mean people will not be able to go to St Peter’s Square. Papal events will be live streamed and broadcast on television.

Brazil

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll reached 187,291 as 527 more patients have died from the disease, the Ministry of Health reported on Monday.

Tests detected 25,019 new cases of infection, raising the caseload to 7,263,619, along with 6,286,980 recoveries.

A father, with his COVID-19 protective mask down, plays with his son at the Esplanade of Ministries, which is illuminated with lights and a large Christmas tree, in Brasilia, Brazil, on Dec 21, 2020. (ERALDO PERES / AP)

Canada

Canada reported 7,519 new COVID-19 cases over the past day, taking the nationwide tally to 515,314, according to data published Tuesday by the country's Public Health Agency.

 There have been 104 new deaths from the virus, with the death toll from the disease standing at 14,332, the agency added.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, announced Monday it will go into lockdown on Dec 26 to curb the fast spread of COVID-19.

Ontario, with a population of 14.6 million, is the first province in Canada to announce a fresh lockdown amid the second wave. The lockdown will remain in place until at least Jan 23 in the 27 public health units that comprise southern Ontario. 

Only essential businesses will be allowed to remain open during the shutdown. No indoor public events or social gatherings will be allowed, except with members of the same household.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford lashed out at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for letting international travelers through the country’s airports without testing them for the coronavirus. He said he’s been asking Trudeau’s government for “weeks upon weeks” to start testing at Toronto’s Pearson International, the country’s busiest airport, to no avail.

Sweden

Sweden on Monday announced that it's barring travelers from neighboring Denmark after the country reported a new and more infectious variant of the coronavirus first found in the UK.

The move came after Sweden suspended travel links with the UK.

The Director-General of the Public Health Agency Johan Carlson said that Sweden has not detected the new virus strain within its borders, but he warned that such cases may well exist since the new variant has been found in a number of European countries.

Uruguay

Uruguay on Monday implemented new restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus, including further closing its borders and suspending the right to assembly.

Some 500 army troops and 50 naval personnel were to be deployed Monday to 25 border-crossing checkpoints with Brazil and Argentina to better enforce control measures, Minister of National Defense Javier Garcia announced Sunday night at a joint press conference with other senior officials.

The borders have been closed to foreigners since March, but will now also be closed to Uruguayans returning from abroad, officials said, with the exception of international cargo transport workers and nationals with a ticket purchased before Dec 16.

The restrictions will be in effect until Jan 10.

Uruguay registered 429 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, pushing it tally to 13,477, the Health Ministry reported on Monday. The death toll remained at 119.

Colombia

Colombia plans to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in February, President Ivan Duque said on Monday.

In an interview with a local radio station, Duque said a trial vaccination run could begin between this week and the first week of January.

He also said his government has researched to obtain the best vaccines for the country, where more than 1.5 million people have tested positive and over 40,000 people have died from the disease.

Segments of the population who will not receive the vaccine include those who have already been infected with the disease, pregnant women and children under 16 years of age, as well as citizens of other countries unofficially residing in Colombia.  

Ecuador

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno on Monday declared a new 30-day state of emergency nationwide and two weeks of curfew amid fears of holiday crowds and gatherings fueling new outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.

At a virtual press conference, Moreno said the 15-day curfew would begin immediately and last from 10 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.

The sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages will also be banned, Moreno added.

Other regulations limit the time of traveling by car, and restrict capacity at shopping centers to 50 percent, and at restaurants and hotels to 30 percent. Beaches will be closed to the public on Dec 24, 25 and 31, as well as Jan 1.

Ecuador registered 72 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its caseload to 206,329. The death toll has climbed to 9,400, with 4,549 probable deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Health Ministry.

Sudan

Sudan's government on Monday decided to ban the entry of passengers from Britain, the Netherlands and South Africa.

"All air carriers operating in Sudan have been notified to implement the decision as of Wednesday, Dec. 24 until Jan. 5, 2021," said Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority in a statement.

The decision bans the entry of all arrivals from the three countries, regardless of their nationalities, whether through direct or indirect flights, it noted. 

Netherlands

The Netherlands reported 11,212 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours on Monday, bringing the nationwide tally to 701,223, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

The country also reported 31 new deaths from the virus, raising the total death toll to 10,526, said the institute.

Peru

Peru's government has decided to ban flights from Europe for two weeks as a preventive measure against a new strain of the coronavirus that appears to be quickly spreading through the United Kingdom, President Francisco Sagasti said on Monday.

In addition, the government decided to "to ban the entry of non-resident foreigners who have been in the United Kingdom in the last two weeks," he said.

Peru on Monday confirmed 958 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking its total caseload to 998,475, said the health ministry.

The ministry also reported 70 more deaths from the virus, raising the total death toll to 37,173.

Switzerland

Switzerland is trying to locate about 10,000 Britons who entered the country after Dec 14 and must now quarantine for 10 days after the Alpine nation blocked borders for tourists coming from the UK, according to Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger. The government will use passenger logs for about 92 flights to track down the visitors, many of whom traveled to ski resorts in southwestern Switzerland.

Hotels are still awaiting more guidance on how to manage the logistics of quarantining guests. The government is due to announce more details of the plan on Tuesday and also outline how its own citizens in Britain can come home.

Following the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus in the UK and South Africa, the Swiss government on Monday decided to introduce a general entry ban for all foreign nationals seeking to enter Switzerland from the two countries.

No cases of the new virus strain have been identified in Switzerland, according to a press release from the Swiss Federal Council - the highest executive authority in the country - on Monday.

Switzerland has so far reported a total of 413,991 COVID-19 cases with 6,722 deaths.

WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is finalizing its emergency use listing for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, likely to be issued before the end of December, said Mariangela Simao, assistant director-general for drug access, vaccines and pharmaceuticals.

The WHO’s vaccination dashboard, which will track inoculations worldwide, is planned to go live early in 2021 and will “hopefully” be updated monthly, said Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan. She added a limited Pfizer shot rollout through the facility run by COVAX could start late January or early February.

Mexico

Mexico reported on Tuesday 5,370 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national count to 1,325,915, Mexico's Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell Ramirez wrote on Twitter.

The country also reported 396 new deaths from the virus, raising the national death toll to 118,598.

Chile

Chile will extend an existing curfew by two hours starting Saturday to contain the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, said health authorities.

Under the new measure, Chile will be under a daily nationwide curfew from 10 pm to 5:00 am, the Ministry of Health said Monday.

In Santiago Metropolitan Region, the epicenter of the epidemic in the country, gatherings and travel will be limited.

Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said at a press conference that new infections have increased 19 percent across the country.

The health authorities are "very concerned" about the latest surge, particularly when the average age of new cases has now fallen to 39 years old, Paris said earlier this week.

Chile reported 1,943 new cases and 43 more deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the tally and toll to 587,488 and 16,197, respectively. A total of 673 patients were in the intensive care, and 557,913 people have recovered so far, according to the ministry.  

A police handler and his COVID-19 sniffer dog give a demonstration at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, Dec 21, 2020. Coronavirus sniffer dogs will start working at the airport on Dec 22, according to the interior minister's office. (ESTEBAN FELIX / AP)

Belarus

Belarus will begin a vaccination campaign against COVID-19 with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine in January 2021, Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich told reporters on Monday.

High risk groups such as doctors, teachers, and trade workers will receive the vaccine for free in the first phase, the minister said.

The Russian vaccine is registered in Belarus and it has received appropriate authorization for clinical use, said Pinevich.

Belarus plans to purchase 100,000 doses of the vaccine from Russia in the first stage. 

Tunisia

Tunisia has decided to suspend all flights to and from the UK starting on Monday until further notice following the emergence of a new virus variant, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics said in a statement.

The country will also suspend flights to and from South Africa and Australia, according to the statement.

The ministry said that "the Tunisian authorities will not accept passengers who have resided or transited through these countries".

Montenegro

Montenegro's government on Monday decided to ban New Year celebrations to curb the spread of COVID-19.

According to the measures imposed by the health ministry, which will kick in from Dec 22 to Jan. 11, celebrations will not be allowed "in cafes and hotels, gatherings in weekend-houses are forbidden, and intercity traffic is closed during the holidays".

In the tourism-oriented country of just over 600,000 residents, 9,158 people are currently infected with COVID-19. A total of 329 new infections were confirmed in the past 24 hours, along with four more deaths.   

According to the Institute of Public Health, 34,181 people have recovered from COVID-19 and 630 have died. 

Ukraine

Ukrainian scientists have developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which can detect the presence of three viruses in the body, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page on Monday.

The test is able to simultaneously detect COVID-19 and strains A and B of the influenza virus. Such a combined test takes about six hours.

Meanwhile, scientists are working on developing another test that will be able to detect five viruses together with rhinovirus and measles.

Ukraine on Tuesday recorded 8,513 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 979,506, according to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, 232 fatalities were reported, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 16,897, the council reported.

Argentina

Argentina on Monday reported 5,853 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 1,547,138, said the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 184 more deaths from the disease, bringing the death toll to 41,997.

The province of Buenos Aires has registered a total of 654,186 cases and remains the most affected region in the South American country.

Libya

Libya's National Center for Disease Control on Monday reported 640 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 95,200.

The center said in a statement that 722 more patients have recovered while 16 more have died, taking the total recoveries to 64,810 and the toll to 1,353.

Belgium

Belgium on Tuesday reported 981 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its tally to 626,911, the public health institute Sciensano reported.

It also reported 71 additional deaths, taking the death toll to 18,697. 

Bolivia

Bolivia posted 362 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its caseload to 150,385, the Health Ministry tweeted on Monday night.

Seven newly reported deaths took the death toll to 9,043.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic reported 7,860 new COVID-19 cases over the past day, taking its total caseload to 635,414, the country's health ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry also reported 55 additional deaths, bringing the death toll to 10,562.

Italy

Italy reported 415 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 352 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 10,872 from 15,104, reflecting the customary decline in testing over the weekend.

In total, Italy has recorded 69,214 fatalities, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth-highest in the world. It has also registered some 1.96 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 25,145 on Monday, down by 13 from the day before. There were 161 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 121 on Sunday.

The number of intensive care patients decreased by 12 to 2,731, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.

France

President Emmanuel Macron’s health situation remains stable after contracting COVID-19 last week, the French presidency said.

"The health condition of the president remains stable," an official at the presidency told Reuters.

France reported on Monday 5,797 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the country’s total number of infections resulting from the new coronavirus to 2,479,151.

There were also 351 deaths registered in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 60,900, health ministry data showed. 

Germany

Germany’s ban on inbound travelers from Britain, Northern Ireland and South Africa took effect Tuesday, including all direct air, rail, bus and ship routes. The ban, which lasts until at least Jan 6, is designed to prevent “dangerous” coronavirus mutations spreading into continental Europe, Health Minister Jens Spahn said in an emailed statement.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 19,528 to 1,530,180, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday. The reported death toll rose by 731 to 27,006, the tally showed.

Germany will begin its first coronavirus vaccinations in care homes for the elderly on Dec 27, Spahn said on Monday, as he welcomed the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the European Medicines Agency.

The federal government is planning to distribute more than 1.3 million vaccine doses to local health authorities in Germany’s 16 federal states by the end of this year, Spahn said.

“In January, at least another 670,000 vaccine doses will be distributed each week,” he said.

BioNTech

BioNTech  is pursuing all its options to make more COVID-19 vaccine doses than the 1.3 billion the companies have promised to produce next year, according to the German company’s chief executive officer.

Pfizer and BioNTech will probably know by January or February whether and how many additional doses can be produced, Ugur Sahin said Monday. 

“I am confident that we will be able to increase our network capacity, but we don’t have numbers yet,” he said in an interview.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria confirmed 1,277 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 192,472, according to data published by the Unified Information Portal on Tuesday.

The country also reported 156 additional deaths from the disease, taking its death toll to 6,765.

Hungary

Hungary registered 1,238 new infections, the lowest daily tally in two months, according to official data released Tuesday. 

The number of deaths remained near record highs at 180, and infection figures have often been skewed by a low rate of testing. 

The government is maintaining restrictions into the start of the new year, with an exception for Dec 24, when a nightly curfew will be lifted.

Ireland

Ireland is expected to close pubs and restaurants from Dec 24 in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, state broadcaster RTE reported. 

The government may announce additional measures as soon as Tuesday, which would include closing cinemas, galleries and hair salons, according to RTE. People may be forced to stay in their home county from Dec 26.

“We’re clearly now in a third wave of the pandemic,” Health Ministry adviser Philip Nolan told reporters on Monday. The five-day rolling average of cases has jumped 82 percent in four days.

Russia

Russia reported 28,776 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, including 7,237 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 2,906,503 since the pandemic began.

Authorities also confirmed 561 deaths, taking the official death toll to 51,912.

Nigeria

Nigeria on Monday confirmed 356 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 78,790, said the country's Center for Disease Control.

Meanwhile, with six new deaths recorded over the past day, the nationwide death toll from the virus rose to 1,227.

Austria 

Austria reported on Tuesday 1,853 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide caseload to 342,226, according to data published by the Austrian Interior Ministry.

Romania

Romania on Tuesday reported 5,009 new COVID-19 cases, bringing its total number of infections to 598,792, according to official statistics.

The country also reported 155 new deaths from the virus, taking the country's death toll to 14,636, according to the official novel coronavirus communication task force.

Belarus

Belarus reported 1,858 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking its total to 177,274, the country's health ministry reported.

There have been 1,877 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 154,807, the ministry added.

So far, 1,341 people have died of the disease in the country, including eight over the past 24 hours, it said.

Uganda


Uganda will soon start surveillance over the new COVID-19 variant, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

Joyce Moriku, minister of state for primary health, said in a statement that the ministry is closely following the global trends of SARS-CoV-2 virus, currently termed as 501.V2 Variant reported in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and Nigeria.

Croatia

Croatia recorded 1,595 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 197,323, said the Croatian Institute of Public Health on Tuesday.

The disease has killed 3,328 people in the country, including 71 in the past 24 hours.

To date, a total of 964,313 people have been tested, 9,088 of them in the past 24 hours.

Slovakia


Slovakia reported 2,663 new COVID-19 cases, according to official data from the government website on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, no new deaths from the virus were reported.

The total caseload in the country has reached 155,218, with the total death toll at 1,618 and total recoveries at 110,565, according to official statistics.

A nurse from (right) takes a swab sample from a man for COVID-19 testing in Richmond, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec 18, 2020. (LUCA SOLA / AFP)

South Africa

South African private hospital operators have warned that they are facing severe capacity constraints due to a resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Netcare Ltd, Life Healthcare Group Holdings Ltd and Mediclinic International Plc, the country’s three biggest private hospital groups, which had spare capacity in most areas during the initial surge, all said they were confronting bed shortages.

In four of South Africa’s most populous provinces, “we have noted a substantial resurgence in COVID-19 patients and the healthcare system is under significant pressure,” said Charl van Loggerenberg, Life Healthcare’s general manager of emergency medicine. Intensive care and high-care units are “particularly under severe strain” in the KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape regions, he said.

“We are seeing a significantly higher demand for oxygenation of sick patients versus the first wave,” Netcare’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Friedland said in an emailed response to questions. “We have seen more cases in both the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, and expect to exceed the number of cases seen in the first wave in KwaZulu-Natal this week.”

The number of cases in South Africa’s economic hub of Gauteng, which was already on the rise, is expected to spike when holiday makers return in early January, Friedland said.

All three companies are recruiting more nurses, temporarily relocating staff to hotspot areas and making contingency plans to convert additional wards to accommodate COVID-19 patients. Non-essential surgical cases are largely being postponed.

South Africa on Monday reported 8,789 new coronavirus cases, taking the national tally to 930,711, the country's health department reported.

Meanwhile, 216 more COVID-19 deaths were recorded, taking the country's death toll from the disease to 24,907.