JERUSALEM Israel’s Health Ministry says it has detected the country’s first known cases of the new variant of the coronavirus. The ministry announced Wednesday that it found the variant in three people who are in government-run quarantine hotels after returning from the U.K. The source of a fourth case is still under investigation. Israel this week tightened its restrictions on entering the country, barring nearly all foreigners and requiring all returning Israelis to isolate in state-run hotels for 10 to 14 days. Flights from the U.K., Denmark and South Africa have been banned altogether.
MADRID Health Minister Salvador Illa said that, beginning Saturday, Spain will receive 4.5 million Pfizer vaccine doses over the next 12 weeks, enough to vaccinate some 2.3 million people.
Illa said on Wednesday that the first batch would arrive in the central province of Guadalajara and be distributed around Spain from there so that vaccination could begin as planned on Sunday.
The ministry reported 12,386 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, up from 11,079 on Tuesday, for a total of 1.8 million. There were 178 new confirmed deaths, down from 260 on Tuesday.
The 14-day cumulative index, closely watched by epidemiologists, rose to 254 per 100,000 inhabitants, up from 236 a day earlier but still down from the second-wave high of 529 on Nov. 9.
CAIRO Egypt reported its highest daily confirmed cases in months, with over 911 confined cases and 42 fatalities, as authorities said New Year’s Eve celebrations would be canceled.
Health Minister Hala Zayed announced the numbers in a news conference in Cairo on Wednesday, which brought the county’s official tally to more than 127,970 COVID-19 cases including at least 7,209 deaths.
The increase came amid repeated warnings by the government about a second wave of the pandemic. Authorities have been urging people to take preventive measures, including wearing face masks and social distancing.
Minister Mustafa Madbouly said on Wednesday that his government would closely follow the measures to avoid a lockdown. The government said celebrations and other activities on New Year’s Eve are not allowed as part of their ongoing efforts to fight the pandemic.
ROME About 500 relatives of people who died of COVID-19 in Italy said on Wednesday they had begun legal action against regional and national authorities, seeking 100 million euros (US$122 million) in damages. The civil lawsuit, which the plaintiffs presented to a Rome court, is against Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Health Minister Roberto Speranza and the governor of the northerly Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana. The spokespeople of all three politicians did not respond to a request for comment. Italy, the first Western country hit by the coronavirus, has reported seen more than 70,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the outbreak emerged in February, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth-highest in the world. The hardest-hit region is Lombardy, where the first COVID-19 patient was detected on Feb. 20.
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