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The latest developments in the coronavirus crisis
India opens again to foreign tourists from countries with reciprocal agreements after a 20-month ban due to the pandemic.
A municipal worker disinfects a classroom at a school in Kolkata on November 15, 2021, after the state government announced the re-opening of educational institutions that were closed as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP)
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:
– Austria lockdown for unjabbed –
Austria’s lockdown of unvaccinated people begins, the first European country to take the radical action in a bid to increase take-up of jabs as new cases surge.
– Peru also gets tough –
Peru, the country with the world’s highest Covid-19 mortality rate, is to require adults to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor spaces from next month.
– India opens to tourists –
India opens again to foreign tourists from countries with reciprocal agreements after a 20-month ban due to the pandemic.
– UK to expand booster shots –
Britain’s booster programme for vaccinations will be expanded to all healthy adults aged 40 to 49, after scientists give the green light.
– Hands off our haka –
The Maori tribe that owns the rights to the famous ritual known as the “Ka Mate” haka tells anti-vaccine protesters to stop performing it at demonstrations.
– Filipinos back to school –
Thousands of children in the Philippines are allowed to return to classrooms for the first time since the start of the pandemic, as a pilot reopening of schools gets under way.
– Italy targets radical anti-vaxxers –
Italian police raid radical anti-vaccine activists alleged to have called for violence, including urging “hangings” and “shootings” of people supporting virus restrictions.
– Cambodia welcomes jabbed –
Cambodia announces that fully vaccinated foreign travellers can visit the kingdom without quarantine, giving a boost to the Covid-battered tourism industry.
– Japan economic hit –
Japan’s economy shrank far more than expected in the three months to September, as a surge in virus cases hit spending and supply chain issues hampered business.
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– More than five million dead –
The coronavirus has killed at least 5,098,386 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Monday.
The US has suffered the most Covid-related deaths with 763,092, followed by Brazil with 611,283, India with 463,655, Mexico with 291,147 and Russia with 256,597.
The countries with the most new deaths were Russia with 1,211, followed by Ukraine with 442 and Romania with 233.
Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.
