South Korea’s Seoul closes schools
The South Korean authorities have ordered the closure of schools in and around Seoul in Tuesday to halt the spread of coronavirus. The country is now facing the worst wave of the epidemic since February, Reuters reported. A record daily increase was recorded on Sunday, when authorities reported 1,030 new infections.
Seoul schools will be teaching online until the end of the month. It is in Seoul, the port city of Incheon and Gyeonggido Province that the number of cases is increasing the most. In total, South Korea, which has a population of almost 52 million, has registered 43,484 infected and 587 deaths with covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Compared to Europe, the United States or South America, developed Asian countries have much more control over a pandemic and are often cited as a model for countering the spread of coronavirus. Asians, for example, are used to wearing veils and following other rules and recommendations. The authorities, in turn, pay close attention to tracing and testing.
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Less than a quarter of the population took part in comprehensive testing in Austria
About two million people in Austria have participated in a mass testing project in the past two weeks. 4200 had a positive test, the APA agency reported.
Teachers and police officers were also tested separately. Participation varied considerably from one part of the country to another. For example, in Lower Austria, which borders the Czech Republic, about 35 percent of the population passed the tests, in Vienna it was only 13.5 percent. 0.2 percent of tests nationwide were positive.
According to Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, the mass testing organized by Austria, following the example of Slovakia, was “a successful step towards reducing the pandemic.”
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Saxony contributes to commuters for accommodation
Since Monday, for preventive epidemic reasons, Saxony has been contributing to the accommodation of Czech and Polish commuters who work in this federal state in fields important for the operation of the state.
From this measure, Saxon Minister of the Economy Martin Dulig promises that temporary accommodation in Saxony will help Czech and Polish workers to reduce contacts during the quarantine period, thus reducing the risk of coronavirus infection. The Federal Labor Office states that nine thousand commuters from the Czech Republic and ten thousand from Poland go to Saxony to work.
Supplements to commuters are 40 euros (1060 crowns) per person per day and 20 euros (530 crowns) per person per day for their family members if they take them with them to Saxony. “Especially in healthcare and care, especially near the borders, we need every hand,” Dulig said.
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Spain wants to vaccinate in the first week of January
Spain wants to start vaccination from January 4-5, 2021; the condition is that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will in the meantime propose to the EU for approval a vaccine from the American company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. This was announced by the Spanish Minister of Health Salvador Illa, the daily El País reported.
Spain, like other countries, plans to vaccinate seniors and home care workers first, followed by health workers and people at risk. “If everything goes according to our plan, 15 to 20 million Spaniards could be vaccinated in May or June,” the minister said. The southern European country has about 47 million inhabitants.
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