Japan's transport ministry has cancelled its blanket ban on new reservations for inbound flights and asked airlines to accommodate the needs of returning Japanese, a senior government spokesperson said on Thursday.
Dutch health authorities said that more than 20 passengers who have been in quarantine since testing positive for COVID-19 after flying from South Africa on Nov. 26 will be allowed to leave on Thursday.
Around 600 passengers arriving in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday faced hours of delays and testing due to concerns over a newly detected variant of the coronavirus.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on nations meeting at the World Trade Organization next week to agree to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in the wake of the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa.
Russian and Belarusian fighter jets jointly patrolled Belarus' border on Thursday, the Belarusian defence ministry said, in the latest sign of Moscow's support for its ally in a standoff with the EU over migrants camped at the frontier with Poland.