Daily World News January 28, 2021

Biden to reinstate COVID travel bans

WASHING-TON, United States –
President Joe Biden will re-impose a
COVID-19 travel ban on most non-US
citizens who have been in Britain, Brazil,
Ireland and much of Europe, a White
House Official said this Sunday, as the
new administration ramps up its Trump had announced an initial
pandemic response. ban on January 31, 2020 on non-
The new president last week American travelers entering from China to
tightened mask wearing rules and ordered try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
quarantine for people flying into the The ban was extended to European
United States, as he seeks to tackle the countries on March 14 as the pandemic
country’s worsening coronavirus crisis. entered full force.
Biden has said that the COVID-
19 death toll would likely rise from
420,000 to half million next month – and
that drastic action was needed.
In his last days in office, Donald
Trump announced the COVID-19 ban on
travelers arriving from much Europe and
Brazil would be lifted – but the Biden
administration immediately said it would
reverse the order due to come into effect
on January 26.

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New Zealand’s new COVID-19 case is

South African variant
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand’s first two days before the
case of coronavirus in the community for more than two months woman left.
has been identified as the South African variant and was likely The 56-year-old
contracted in hotel quarantine, health minister Chris Hipkins said woman travelled
on Monday. around the Northland
The 56-year-old woman, who recently returned from Europe, region near Aukland
tested positive on Saturday, 10 days after she completed her after her release
compulsory two weeks in isolation. from quarantine and
New Zealand has been widely praised for its handling of the showed symptoms for several days before being tested.
pandemic, with just 25 deaths from 1,927 confirmed virus cases Two people close to her, including her husband, have since
in a population of five million. returned negative tests and New Zealand’s director-general of
The latest case is New Zealand’s first in the community since health Ashley Bloomfield said they likely avoided contracting
mid-November and has been classified as a strain said to be more the illness due to the type of infection.
transmissible. The World Health Organization has said there is no clear
The woman is thought to have been infected during quarantine evidence the South African variant leads to more severe disease
by a person on the same floor of the hotel who tested positive or a higher death rate.
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Australia approves Pfizer vaccine for rollout in February

SYDNEY, Australia – Australia’s medical
regulator has formally approved the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine, with the first doses
expected to be administrated in the late
February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison
announced Monday.
The Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA) granted provisional
approval for the Pfizer product, making it
the first COVID-19 vaccine to get the
green light in Australia.
Australia has secured 10 million
doses from Pfizer – enough to vaccinate
five million people – with healthcare
workers and the elderly expected to
receive the first jabs.
Morrison cautioned that the
rollout would start with “very small
beginnings” in the late February, instead
of the mid-February timetable his
government had promised, due to
production and delivery challenges
globally.
He said the vaccination program
should be complete by October.
It means Australia will begin
inoculating its citizens months after the
United States and United Kingdom,
despite Morrison’s boast earlier in the
pandemic that his country would be “at
the front of the queue”.