Fearing new, highly contagious strain, EU nations ban UK flights

Several European Union nations on Sunday banned flights from the UK and Germany was considering such curbs to make sure that a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England does not establish a strong foothold on the continentA medical worker gets vaccinated in Jerusalem on Sunday Israel begins its inoculation drive aiming to vaccinate some 60000 people daily with Pfizer and Moderna shots PICAFPThe Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the UK but did not give details on any timing of the banItalian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Twitter that the government was preparing the measure ldquoto protect Italiansrdquo from the new coronavirus variant About two dozen flights were scheduled to arrive in Italy on Sunday most in the northern region of Lombardy but also in Veneto and Lazio which include Venice and Rome respectivelyGerman officials meanwhile were considering ldquoserious optionsrdquo regarding incoming flights from the UK but have not yet taken action Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Sunday said he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight ldquoout of precautionrdquo ldquoThere are a great many questions about this new mutation and if it is not already on the mainlandrdquo he said He hoped to have more clarity by TuesdayStudies are under way to better understand how fast it spreads and and whether ldquoitrsquos related to the variant itself or a combination of factors with behaviorrdquo said Maria Van Kerkhove WHOrsquos technical lead on COVID19Thousands get tested in ThailandThousands of people lined up for coronavirus tests in a province near Bangkok on Sunday as Thai authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak of the virus that has infected nearly 700 people Thailand on Sunday reported 141 more cases The new outbreak has been traced to a 67yearold shrimp vendor at the seafood marketSydney strugglesThe outbreak in Sydneyrsquos northern beach suburbs has grown to 70 cases with an additional 30 in the last 24 hours and authorities say they may never be able to trace the source A new list of cases shows the virus had spread to greater Sydney and other parts of the state579642Total no of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours74879038Total no of cases worldwide1688140Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns HopkinsKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever