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The South African variant, 501. V2, is more infectious than the original Covid-19 virus and is dominant in the country.
To combat the resurgence of the disease, South Africa has imposed measures including closing many large public beaches, requiring masks in public areas, restricting sales of alcohol to four days a week and enforcing a night-time curfew from 11pm until 4am. However, the quickening pace of the spread of the disease is bringing experts to urge stricter measures.
“We do need to think of additional restrictions, so that it’s clear to people the seriousness of the current situation,” infectious diseases expert Dr Richard Lessells said. “Because already many hospitals in many parts of the country are extremely stretched.”

UK detects ‘more transmissible’ variant of coronavirus linked to South Africa
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Friday, in a Christmas message to the country, rejected a suggestion by British health secretary that South Africa’s variant had contributed to Britain’s strain.

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Mkhize said that statements by Britain’s Secretary for Health, Matt Hancock, had created a perception that the variant in South Africa has been a major factor in UK’s second wave.
“This is not correct. There is evidence that the UK variant developed earlier than the South African variant,” Mkhize said.
There is no evidence to suggest the South African variant is more transmissible, causes more severe disease or increased mortality than Britain’s strain or any other variant that has been sequenced in the world, said Mkhize.
He also said he was against travel bans.
“It is the widely shared view of the scientific community that, given the current circumstantial evidence, the risks of travel bans may outweigh the benefits, and that it is possible to contain the variants while sustaining international travel,” he said.

“Banning travel between the UK and South Africa is an unfortunate decision,” said Mkhize in his statement. “There is no evidence that the South African variant is more pathogenic than the UK variant to necessitate this step.”
Mkhize noted that South Africa is part of a group of “countries that are leading in the field of genomic surveillance: Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom.”
Leading South Africa’s genomic research is Professor Tulio de Oliveira who is studying the new variant.
“I’ll be spending Christmas in my lab,” de Oliveira said. “We’ll be working throughout the whole holiday season on this research.”

The first case of a particularly infectious coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain has been confirmed in France, the health ministry said on Friday.
The person – a French citizen living in Britain – is asymptomatic and self-isolating at home in Tours in central France, the ministry said.
The person arrived from London on December 19 and was tested in hospital on December 21 and found to be positive for the strain of the virus known as VOC 202012/01.
“The health authorities have carried out contact-tracing for the health professionals taking care of the patient,” the ministry said in a statement.

Any of their contacts that were seen as vulnerable would similarly be isolated, the statement said.

In addition to this first case, “to date, several positive samples that may suggest the VOC 202012/01 variant are being sequenced” by the specialist laboratories of the national Pasteur Institute, the statement added.

墨西哥、智利和哥斯达黎加现在是南美洲率先启动疫苗接种计划的国家。这三个国家都使用了德国BioNTech公司及其美国合作伙伴辉瑞公司的疫苗。然而，疫苗数量很少。智利表示有1万剂疫苗可用。墨西哥迄今只有3000剂疫苗。按照计划，还应有53000剂疫苗在年底前交付。

Mexiko Maria Irene Ramirez erhält erste Impfung Pfizer
一名墨西哥护士接受第一剂BioNtech新冠疫苗接种

墨西哥人口不到1.3亿。根据官方数据，迄今为止，与新冠病毒感染有关的死亡人数至少为12万人，数量之高全球排名第4。在墨西哥和智利，为了宣传和鼓励民众接种疫苗，一名护士和哥斯达黎加一名91岁的老年妇女公开进行了疫苗接种。

周日，德国各地将开始进行首批新冠疫苗接种。80岁以上的老人和养老院的住户和工作人员，以及感染风险极高的医护人员将优先接种疫苗。根据德新社委托民意调查机构YouGov进行的一项有代表性的调查显示，约有三分之二的德国人希望接种疫苗。32%的受访者表示希望尽快接种疫苗。还有33%的人也决定接种，但还是想先观察一下其他人接种后的结果。19%人拒绝接种疫苗，16%的人仍在犹豫尚未做出决定。

不过，57%的明显多数表示对接种疫苗的副作用表示担忧。只有三分之一的人没有这种恐惧。10%的人对此没有发表意见。

2020/12/25,长荣航空纽西兰籍机长航行中未戴口罩，确诊后又不愿接受疫调，造成台湾新增本土案例。台湾交通部宣布，鉴于长荣管理不良，依法重罚长荣航空一百万元；疫情指挥中心并要求长荣在今天以前提出改善计划，否则将立即讨论延长所有航空业者的检疫期限。

台湾官方为了让航空业维持正常飞航，之前在业者争取下，疫情指挥中心曾放宽空勤人员居家隔离检疫的时间，飞行员仅需三天，空服员仅需五天，比一般旅客入境台湾须隔离检疫十四天相比，已经给予特权。但各航空公司机组员却屡屡违规，指挥中心统计，今年3月19日以来，违规人数为23人，外站13人、国内10人，而且不少人是在居家检疫期间违规。

台湾官方表示，纽籍机长在飞机上一直咳嗽未戴口罩，显示长荣航空管理有问题，当初航空业要求缩短检疫日期，虽然提出各项标准作业流程，但并没有落实。例如纽籍机长在美国没戴口罩，就算他身为机长，其他人都是下属，难以要求，但机上都有录像，至少要有「层层监督」的机制，可是到目前为止，没有看到长荣有这些管理措施。

疫情中心表示，长荣目前虽提出标准作业流程，但没有提出落实计划，官方强调，如果长荣今天不提出落实计划，不只长荣，所有航空业者的检疫期间都必须延长。

长荣表示，这次纽籍机师确诊事件，尊重主管机关的裁罚，已就管理上的制度进行改进，也正在跟民航局与中央疫情指挥中心共同研议更完善的加强管控措施。

据了解，长荣昨天对内发出明确禁令，过去十四天内有任何飞航勤务者，禁止参加相关晚会和节庆活动，违反者最重将开除。

民航局及航空公司今天需向交通部提报如何强化现有航空检疫措施及确实惩罚的办法。据了解，相关单位曾讨论不延长机组人员的隔离检疫日期，但考虑检疫期满时，做核酸检测的可能性。