France’s health authority has become the first to recommend that only one dose of the coronavirus vaccine be administered to people previously infected with coronavirus.
UK confident epidemic is shrinking as R number reduces
From Samantha Tapfumaneyi
The UK is confident that the epidemic is shrinking as the Covid-19 reproduction number (R) is now between 0.7 and 1.0, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said Friday.
The R is the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to.
The growth rate in the UK is estimated to between -5% and -2% and the R number is estimated to be below 1, meaning that the number of “new infections is shrinking by between 2% to 5% every day”.
DHSC added that “it remains important that everyone continues to stay at home in order to keep the R value down, protect the NHS and help save lives”.
Cuba will implement a nightly curfew in Havana to combat Covid-19 spread
From CNN s Patrick Oppmann
A woman walks near a graffiti with the Cuban flag in Havana, on January 12, 2021. Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
Cuba s capital city Havana will implement a nightly curfew starting Friday, according to the island s state-run media.
People will not be able to leave their homes after 9 p.m. local time without special permission, according to Luis Torres, the president of Havana s defense council, as reported by the government Radio Rebelde station.
Officials did not say how long the curfew would last.
Cuba is experiencing its highest spike in Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with the largest concentration of cases being in Havana. The island has a total of 30,345 confirmed cases and 225 Covid-19 related deaths according to John Hopkins University.
9:03 a.m. ET, February 3, 2021
Lawmakers condemn appalling video of England s chief medical officer being verbally abused in the street
From CNN’s Samantha Tapfumaneyi
England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty attends a coronavirus press conference at 10 Downing Street on January 22, in London, England. Leon Neal/Getty Images
England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty was verbally abused in the street and called a liar, a video uploaded to TikTok on Tuesday showed.
In the video, a young man can be seen repeatedly telling Whitty he is a liar.
The TikTok account that posted the video has since been deleted.
Netherlands proposes curfew and bans flights from UK, South Africa, and South America
From CNN’s Mick Krever in London
Warning of a third coronavirus wave from more transmissible coronavirus variants, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Wednesday his government will try to get parliamentary approval for a nationwide curfew between 8:30pm and 4:30am.
“We need to do the utmost to stay ahead of that third wave, and keep it as small as possible,” Rutte said. “What the cabinet is presenting today will undoubtedly ask a great deal of people again, but it will also yield us a great deal.”