Westerly ice skating rink open to public
Pam Greenhalgh, center, of East Providence skates with her daughters Olive, left, June, 6, Ramona, 6, and niece Rosie Sposato of Westerly, during the public skating hours Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at the Washington Trust Community Skating Center in Westerly. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Ben Fulton restocks rental skates after disinfecting them Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at the Washington Trust Community Skating Center in Westerly. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Ice skaters wait in line Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, to enter the Washington Trust Community Skating Center in Westerly. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Ice skaters take to the rink Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at the Washington Trust Community Skating Center in Westerly. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has detected its first case of the more infectious coronavirus variant found in England, in a Russian who returned from Britain and tested positive late last month, RIA news agency reported on Sunday, citing the consumer health watchdog. Russia suspended flights to Britain last month until Jan. 13 because of the virus variant detected there. It also introduced a mandatory two-week self-isolation period for people arriving from Britain. Russia on Sunday reported 22,851 new COVID-19 cases including 4,216 in Moscow, pushing its national infection tally to 3,401,954 - the world s fourth highest - since the pandemic began. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Alexander Smith and Peter Graff)
Norwich public schools will remain in hybrid model next week, while Norwich Free Academy remains in remote learning amid a post-holiday spike in COVID-19 rates in Norwich and some surrounding towns.
Both the Uncas Health District and Ledge Light Health District reported that the highest COVID-19 rates for their towns since March occurred at the end of December.
During the two-week period from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1, Norwich had a COVID-19 case rate of 82.3 cases per 100,000 population and a positivity rate of 11.5%, according to figures released by the Uncas Health District. The city’s COVID-19 positivity rate had been 10% for the previous two-week period.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese authorities halted public transport in a provincial capital near Beijing on Saturday in an effort to stamp out a new cluster of coronavirus infections. Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province which surrounds Beijing, suspended service on the city s subway, then extended the ban to all public transport, including taxis. The province entered a wartime mode this week to battle the infections. At a media conference on Saturday, provincial authorities said mass testing for the virus had been conducted for all 11 million residents of Shijiazhuang, as well as the neighboring city of Xingtai. Ma Yujun, deputy mayor of Shijiazhuang, said the city was working to locate the origin of the outbreak. Authorities on Thursday banned people from leaving Shijiazhuang and later told residents they must stay home for at least seven days even after they complete a nucleic acid test. The National Health Commission reported 33 new COVID-19 cases for mainland China on Jan. 8, down