TravelGuides – Covid live: Germany to join other countries in restricting travel from South Africa over new variant fears | World news

There is a meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) starting very shortly over the new variant. Here is the statement they have given to the media:

WHO is closely monitoring the recently reported variant B.1.1.529. So far under 100 sequences have been reported. Early analysis shows that this variant has a large number of mutations that require and will undergo further study. We are grateful for researchers in South Africa and experts on WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) who are assessing this variant.

WHO is convening a meeting of the TAG-VE today to better understand the timeline for studies that are underway and to determine if this variant should be designated as a variant of interest or variant of concern.

There is no live press conference or anything like that planned at this moment in time, but we are expecting the outcome of the meeting to be shared with the media later today.

Japan will tighten border controls for people arriving from six African nations from midnight. Reuters report that those arriving from South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho will be required to undergo a 10-day quarantine period in government-determined accommodation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

A quick snap from Reuters here with some quotes from Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn. He said the country needs to take decisive action now or else face drastic measures in the coming weeks that could include a complete reduction in contacts between people.

“Everything we don’t decide now, everything we don’t reduce now in terms of contacts, will require even more drastic measures in two or four weeks’ time,” Spahn told a news conference in Berlin.

“That is our appeal: massive restrictions of contacts,” he said, calling for this to be supported by Germany’s regions or else there could be a “complete” reduction, he said, without using the word “lockdown”.

There’s a little bit more detail emerging of the situation in Israel where at least one case of the new B.1.1.529 variant has been detected in a traveller arriving there from Malawi, and the prime minister has said “We are close to an emergency situation”

Naftali Bennett called a meeting on Friday morning with public health officials and his government to take stock of the Covid situation in the country. “We are close to an emergency situation… we must act strongly and quickly,” Bennett said in a statement from his office. “When we have a clearer picture of the situation, we will take decisions accordingly,” he added.

Agence France-Presse remind us that earlier this month Israel held a “war games” style drill to help prepare for the possible emergence of what they termed a lethal “Omega” variant.

It has just been announced that health secretary, Sajid Javid, will make a Commons statement on the latest Covid developments at 11am in the UK Houses of Parliament.

The new coronavirus variant found in South Africa has so far not been identified in Germany or Europe, the head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute said on Friday, adding that some mutations linked to the variant gave reason for great concern.

“There are other mutations (deriving from the new variant found in South Africa) whose biological composition is unclear. We are in fact very worried,” the RKI president, prof Lothar Wieler, told journalists in a news conference, Reuters report.

“So far, I am not aware that this variant has been identified in Europe or in Germany.”

Andrew Sparrow has our UK politics live blog for today up and running. He will be mostly focussed for now on the crisis in the relationship between Britain and France.

I’ll be continuing to bring you the latest coronavirus news from the UK and around the world, where the main story is the emergence of a new variant in southern Africa which is causing concern to scientists and sparking a series of travel bans.

Earlier this week Swiss health authorities warned of a rising “fifth wave” in the Alpine country, where vaccination rates are roughly in line with those in hard-hit Austria and Germany — at about two-thirds of the population. Infection rates have soared in recent weeks. The seven-day average case count in Switzerland went up to more than 5,200 per day from mid-October to mid-November, a more than fivefold increase — with an upward curve like those in neighbouring Germany and Austria.

However, federal government has not responded with new restrictive measures. Analysts say it does not want to stir up more opposition to its anti-Covid policies, which face a crucial test at the ballot box this weekend as critics have grown increasingly loud.

On Sunday, as part of the country’s regular referendums, Swiss voters will cast ballots about the so-called “Covid-19 law” that has provided billions of Swiss francs in aid for workers and businesses hit by the pandemic. The law has also imposed the use of a special Covid certificate that lets only people who have been vaccinated, recovered, or tested negative attend public events and gatherings.

The Associated Press suggests in its report that if the Swiss give a thumbs-up on Sunday, that may free the government’s hand to ratchet up its anti-Covid efforts.

The Swiss Federal Council, the seven-member executive branch, went out of its way earlier this week to say: “It’s not the time to decree a tightening of measures nationwide,” while opting for a region-by-region approach and calling on citizens to act responsibly through mask-wearing, physical distancing, and proper airing of indoor areas.