’Wartime undertaking’: Joe Biden unveils COVID-19 battle plan; Brits face long-term restrictions
Joe Biden has vowed to attack the coronavirus pandemic as if it were wartime, while Boris Johnson has issued a grim warning for Brits.
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Travelers to the US will be required to quarantine on arrival while masks will be mandated on many domestic trains, planes and buses, President Joe Biden said as he signed a raft of new executive orders to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new leader of the world’s hardest-hit country has made fighting the coronavirus one of his top priorities, describing the endeavor as a “wartime undertaking” as he spoke to reporters from the Oval Office.
“This is a wartime undertaking,” Mr Biden said.
“Our national plan launches a full-scale wartime effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment, syringes, needles, you name it,” Mr Biden said.
More than 408,000 people have died from the disease in the US, which is more than the total military fatalities the country experienced in World War II.
“In addition to wearing masks, everyone flying to the United States from another country will need to test before they get on that plane, before they depart, and quarantine when they arrive in America,” Mr Biden said.
The testing requirement was announced by the previous administration of Donald Trump, but quarantine was only a recommendation.
It comes as alarming, more contagious new variants of the virus have emerged around the world. One particular mutation from South Africa has raised concerns over vaccine effectiveness.
Mr Biden added he was signing a new order “to extend masking requirements on interstate travel, like on trains, planes and buses.”
The measures are part of Mr Biden’s national strategy that is outlined in a 200-page document that foresees scaling up vaccinations, testing, returning students to school and rebuilding trust with the public among other goals.
The president is also seeking $1.9 trillion from Congress for a COVID-19 relief package.
The administration plans to invoke emergency legislation called the Defense Production Act to increase industrial output of vaccines and other medical supplies, while also setting up thousands of federal testing sites.
Mr Biden said he expected a federal pharmacy vaccination program to begin “by the seventh or eighth of February.”
As of Wednesday, 35.9 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna shots had been distributed to states, while 16.5 million have reached arms as either the first or second injection — a rate of 46 percent.
The administration will be seeking to boost the supply while reducing distribution bottlenecks.
While the measures mark a clear break from Trump’s administration, it was unclear how some of them, including the widened mask mandate and quarantine measure, would be enforced
US RESUMES WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION FUNDING
It comes as the US on Thursday (local time) said it would resume its funding of the UN’s health agency as new president Joe Biden shifted towards greater international co-operation in the fight against COVID-19, while also launching a $1.9 trillion ($A2.45tr) plan to tackle the pandemic domestically.
On his first day in office, Mr Biden dispatched his top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci to Switzerland and confirmed he had reversed the decision of former president Donald Trump to quit the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Under trying circumstances, this organisation has rallied the scientific and research and development community to accelerate vaccines, therapies and diagnostics,” Dr Fauci told a WHO meeting in Geneva, confirming that the US would continue to pay its dues to the organisation.
Mr Biden was a fierce critic of Mr Trump’s approach to tackling the virus in the US, which with more than 400,000 dead is the world’s worst-hit nation.
The new president is seeking to vaccinate 100 million people in the next 100 days, increase the use of masks and testing, expand the public health workforce and offer more emergency relief to those struggling with the restrictions.
“For almost a year now, Americans could not look to the federal government for any strategy,” said Jeff Zients, co-ordinator of the new COVID-19 task force. “As president Biden steps into office today, that all changes.”
BORIS JOHNSON SAYS LOCKDOWNS WON’T END SOON
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that it is “too early” to say whether coronavirus restrictions are to be lifted before the Northern spring or even summer.
Mr Johnson refused to be drawn on when Brits might see their freedoms returned if and when national restrictions are eased.
According to The Sun, the number of COVID-19 cases didn’t drop significantly in the first ten days of the national lockdown – which started on January 5, and the mutant coronavirus spreads very rapidly.
The British Prime Minister was asked by a journalist whether the country was “looking at summer rather than spring” for restrictions to be eased.
“I think it’s too early to say when we’ll be able to lift some of some of the restrictions,” Mr Johnson said.
He said it would “unquestionably will be a tough few weeks ahead”.
On Thursday, Home secretary Priti Patel announced a new 800 pound ($A1415) fine for people who attended house parties of more than 15 people. Repeat offenders will have their fines doubled to 6400 pounds ($A11,320).
Northern Ireland’s lockdown has been extended to 5 March following a meeting of the devolved government.
The famous Glastonbury Festival has been cancelled for the second year running with organisers rolling tickets over into 2022.
The UK government’s chief scientific adviser delivered a blunt message to those calling for restrictions to be lifted. “It’s worth remembering Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome,” he said.
“The lesson is every time you release it too quickly you get an upswing.”
British Ministers have said they will review the COVID-19 rules and restrictions on February 15.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, Jackson Mthembu, one of the government’s key leaders in its response to the global pandemic and the public face during many news briefings, has died from COVID-19, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday (local time).
VACCINE BLAZE AS WORLD CASES HIT 100 MILLION
A fire broke out at facility for the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, in the city of Pune in west India on Thursday.
Murlidhar Mohol, the city’s mayor, said that five bodies, believed to construction workers, were retrieved from the six-floor building, while four people were rescued.
The blaze, which is now under control, will not impact production of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the company.
SII is in partnership with Oxford University and AstraZeneca to produce the Covishield brand of vaccine.
It comes as virus cases are approaching 100 million globally, with more than two million deaths and many millions still living under lockdowns, curfews or other restrictions.
Europe has been hard hit, although the Russian capital of Moscow announced on Thursday it would be lifting many of its harshest lockdown restrictions as Mayor Sergei Sobyanin expressed “cautious optimism” over the slight drop in coronavirus cases.
The UAE has approved the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, making it the third shot to be approved for use in the country.
A statement from the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention said the country held Phase 3 trials of the vaccine. The results demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of Sputnik V in triggering a “strong antibody response” as well as “compliance with international safety,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the UK is administering 200 COVID-19 vaccinations every minute and 63 per cent of residents in elderly care homes have now received a shot, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on Thursday, a day after the country recorded the highest daily death toll of the pandemic so far.
The UK has now given more than five million doses of coronavirus vaccines to 4.6 million people, “making good progress towards our goal of offering everyone in priority group one to four their first dose by the 15th of February,” Mr Hancock said.
SHOCKING US DEATH TOLL
The US could reach half a million COVID-19 deaths by mid-February, according to the CDC.
COVID-19 has now killed more than 400,000 Americans, as new strains of the virus are reported in multiple states.
The Johns Hopkins University coronavirus Resource Centre reported 400,022 people had died.
America’s total fatalities are now more than patriots dead in World War I, the Vietnam War and the Korean War combined — and nearly as many Americans who died in World War II.
It comes as over the past month the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded each day has ranged from between 101,000 to more than 300,000. In the past week new cases have averaged 218,000 daily.
As of Thursday, local time, more than 24.5 million people were infected. That represents almost one in 14 of the general population.
The state of California is the current epicentre of the pandemic in the US, and this week it became the first state to record more than three million cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins and the COVID Tracking Project.
The number of COVID-19 cases in California has tripled in the past two months.
More than a million of those cases are centralised in Los Angeles County, where about one in 10 people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus.
CNN reports that health officials fear the more realistic number may be as high as one in three.
Over 33,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 and hospitals throughout the state remain overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients seeking treatment.
About 90 per cent of the state remains under stay-at-home orders.
According to CNN, a Los Angeles air pollution control agency says it has temporarily suspended limits on cremations in order to assist crematoriums with the “backlog” of human remains caused by the pandemic.
Earlier this month, the county reported that a person was dying of the virus every eight minutes.
CHINA ANNOUNCES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
China has announced domestic travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus ahead of Lunar New Year as one Beijing district went into lockdown.
Fresh COVID-19 outbreaks in the capital and across northern China have prompted the government to cancel Lunar New Year celebrations nationwide beginning 12 February. People have been urged to forego travel during the holiday period which typically sees millions move between cities and villages to visit family.
In Beijing, authorities have organised mass testing and vaccinations in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. At least two cases were identified as being the new and more contagious UK variant, according to health officials.
Meanwhile, China is building a gigantic COVID-19 quarantine centre on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang city to curb the city’s growing coronavirus outbreaks.
The facility, which will be ready in days, will be large enough to move entire villages into if there are local flare-ups of community transmission.
China has largely brought the virus under control but still experiences spates of small, localised outbreaks. The scenes outside Shijiazhuang, northern China, are reminiscent of Beijing’s efforts early last year to build makeshift field hospitals in Wuhan – the central city where COVID-19 cases first emerged – within days of the virus’s appearance.
The quarantine buildings in Shijiazhuang are equipped with bathrooms, Wi-Fi and airconditioning and will house close contacts of confirmed virus patients.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed workers in hi-vis vests and hard hats assembling the cabin-like structures in the dark, while flags bearing the names of construction teams and Communist party units fluttered from the completed buildings.
The facility is expected to have enough rooms to hold more than 4000 people once it is completed, CCTV said on Tuesday (local time).
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