Germany warns new variants are set to spread; Israel to keep borders closed despite easing lockdown
- Oxford vaccine almost as effective against Kent variant, trials suggest
- Von der Leyen: UK is Covid vaccine ‘speedboat’ while EU is ‘tanker’
- ‘Pandemic burnout’ on rise as latest Covid lockdowns take toll
- US records more than 5,000 Covid deaths in a day after audit
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Slovak regional authorities have quarantined a Roma settlement after a quarter of its residents tested positive for the coronavirus.
The settlement of Sacurov near Vranov nad Toplou in the east of the country, made up of two three-storey apartment blocks and around 70 shacks, is to be closed off for 10 days.
“In a week-and-a-half it grew [from five] to the unreal number of 113, due to a failure to maintain quarantine and isolation,” he said.
More than 80% of people in some developing countries have seen their incomes fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, economists have found, warning that rising poverty could mean poorer countries struggle to curb infections – especially with mass vaccination potentially years away.
“Economic help is part and parcel of fighting the virus,” co-author of the study Shana Warren told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“If you want people to stay home to stop the virus spreading while they wait for vaccines you need to provide them with the economic support to do so.”
Continue reading...