Coronavirus live news: WHO says foreign experts to go to China soon; US tops 10,000 weekly deaths

Travellers arriving in England from abroad face a shorter spell in quarantine from mid-December if they test negative for coronavirus five days after their arrival, the UK government announced Tuesday.

It hopes the new rules will revive the ailing travel industry, particularly aviation, which has suffered a steep drop in ridership because of restrictions imposed to fight the pandemic.

Travellers arriving in England by air, ferry or train from December 15 will be able to end their quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19 at least five days after their arrival.

New arrivals currently have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Passengers will have to book a private screening and quarantine beforehand. Those who choose not to be tested will have to observe a two-week quarantine.

“Our new testing strategy will allow us to travel more freely, see loved ones and drive international business,” said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

“By giving people the choice to test on day five, we are also supporting the travel industry as it continues to rebuild out of the pandemic.”

The UK government sets transport policy for England. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own.

London changed course after seeing evidence that a test after five days of self-isolation “provides materially better results” than just having a test on arrival.

The new strategy is accompanied by a financial support plan for commercial airports in England.

The WHO said Monday that avoiding family gatherings would be “the safest bet” over Christmas, insisting there is no zero-risk option for traditional holiday merry-making during the coronavirus pandemic.

AFP:

World Health Organization officials said it was down to governments to weigh up the economic and social benefits of loosening pandemic restrictions over the festive period, while individuals would have to decide whether they might be putting more vulnerable relatives at risk.

Europe and the Americas are battling rising coronavirus caseloads that are pushing health systems to the brink, forcing governments to issue stay-at-home orders and close businesses heading into the crucial Christmas period.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said there were no “zero-risk” options.

“There’s lower risk or higher risk – but there is a risk,” she told a virtual media briefing.

“This is incredibly difficult because especially during holidays… we really want to be with family but in some situations, the difficult decision not to have that family gathering is the safest bet.”

She said everyone would have to take that decision for themselves, weighing up whether they could potentially be bringing the virus into the home of more vulnerable individuals with a higher risk of dying from the disease.

Van Kerkhove suggested that connecting virtually might be the way to go.

“Even if you can’t celebrate together this year, you can find ways to celebrate when this is all over,” the US expert said.

“We are doing that within our own family and we are going to have one heck of a celebration when this is all over.”

The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19, AFP reports.

“We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field… will be facilitated, and as soon as possible,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.

“We need to be able to have the international team join our Chinese colleagues… and look at the results and the outcomes of (their) studies and verify the data on the ground,” he said.

Ryan hailed the “tremendous amount of scientific investigation” done by the Chinese, but said international experts needed to go in “in order that the international community can be reassured about the quality of the science.”

“This is extremely important, and we are continuing to expect that that be the case.”

The WHO has for months been working to send a team of international experts, including epidemiologists and animal health specialists, to China to help probe the animal origin of the novel coronavirus pandemic and how the virus first crossed over to humans.

The UN health agency sent an advance team to Beijing in July to lay the groundwork for the international probe, but it has remained unclear when the larger team of scientists would be able to travel to China to begin epidemiological studies to try to identify the first human cases and their source of infection.

Scientists initially believed the killer virus jumped from animals to humans at a market selling exotic animals for meat in the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year.

But experts now think the market may not have been the origin of the outbreak, but rather a place where it was amplified.

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The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19.

“We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field… will be facilitated, and as soon as possible,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.

“We need to be able to have the international team join our Chinese colleagues… and look at the results and the outcomes of (their) studies and verify the data on the ground,” he said.

Meanwhile the US suffered more than 10,000 deaths in the last seven days, according to Johns Hopkins. The death toll was 10,575.

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

• Daily Covid-19 cases in France at near two-month low. France reported 4,452 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, the lowest daily tally since 28 September, suggesting a second national lockdown is having an impact.
• UK aims to inoculate those most at risk from Covid by Easter. The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he hoped almost all Britons at high risk from Covid-19 would be vaccinated against the disease by Easter. He also said people will not be forced to have vaccinations against Covid-19.
• Spain’s king self-isolating after virus contact. Spain’s King Felipe VI has started 10 days of quarantine after coming into close contact with someone who later tested positive for Covid-19, the palace said.
• Pope says anti-maskers stuck in ‘their own little world of interests’. Pope Francis has12taken aim at protests against coronavirus restrictions, contrasting them with the “healthy indignation” seen in demonstrations against racism after the death of George Floyd.
• New infections in Gaza spiralling out of control. The mounting number of coronavirus infections in densely populated Gaza is spinning out of control, Palestinian health officials warned. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the health ministry “expects the worst if the epidemiological situation remains the same” citing “a health system at the end of its rope”, “severe drug shortages” and “extreme overcrowding”.