And everywhere from India to South Africa to the Philippines, states have deployed police forces and even the army to enforce them. It is no surprise that they try to be creative and use whatever means available to them to try and control the pandemic.įor most, the solutions have been isolation, quarantine and lockdown. But the reality in many countries – especially where security forces traditionally have a less than friendly reputation – is not as picture-perfect.Īs the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shift fast, and continues to overwhelm health systems in the global north, it is clear for many countries in the global south that their best bet to limit the impact is prevention. The romanticised implication is that in the space between COVID-19 and its potential victims, it is medics and security services who push back together to save lives.Ī similar theory is at the root of the growing trend where the military and police enforce government lockdowns to contain the spread of coronavirus. On the right, a health worker in a hazmat suit closes the door on the coronavirus, while on the left a police officer in a medical mask pushes back a horde of people. China reported 50 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday compared with 43 on Friday, according to the country’s health authority.There is a sketch doing the rounds on Twitter: Two people standing in the centre of a hallway, back towards one another, each struggling to push a different door closed.Melbourne, Australia’s second-biggest city, began its first weekend out of the world’s longest string of Covid lockdowns with spontaneous street parties, live music and packed pubs, bars and restaurants.Sri Lanka has announced plans to offer booster shots to frontline workers followed by the elderly as it prepares to further ease Covid restrictions.The decision comes days after the drugs regulator in neighbouring South Africa raised concerns about its safety for people at risk of HIV. Namibia will suspend the use of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine, its health ministry said on Saturday.New Zealand reported 104 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, including the first community case of the virus in the country’s South Island in nearly a year, health officials said.The senior official credited with the early success of the Covid vaccine rollout in England is returning to the NHS to resume her role overseeing the programme, months after leaving to become the head of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street delivery unit.The Romanian government is to re-introduce a night curfew and make health passes mandatory for entry to most public venues from Monday.Romania has reported record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths and infections this month and the hospital system is stretched to breaking point. Six Romanian Covid-19 patients have been transported to the central Polish city of Lodz for treatment, Polish authorities said.Health officials should have known about major failings at a private UK Covid testing lab within days of the problem arising, rather than taking weeks to shut down operations at the site, senior scientists say.Unvaccinated people in Austria could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, the country’s chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, has said.Local public health chiefs in England have broken from the government’s official guidance to recommend plan B measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases.
Russia reported a further 1,075 Covid deaths on Saturday, its fifth straight daily record, as authorities prepare to shut workplaces across the country and lock down Moscow.In a wide-ranging interview with The Times newspaper, the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has said shops, pubs and restaurants must not shut again as the vaccine rollout meant there could be “no more lockdowns”.A prominent Covid adviser to the UK government has said he is “very fearful” there will be another Christmas lockdown as he urged the public to do everything possible to reduce transmission of the virus.The total number of cases is now 8,734,934 and the death toll is 139,461. The UK has recorded 44,985 new coronavirus cases and a further 135 deaths in the last 24-hour period, government figures show.23.58 BST A summary of today's developments
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