BFF-31, 32 France tightens curfew as illegal mass rave ends

473

ZCZC

BFF-31

HEALTH-VIRUS NEWSERIES

France tightens curfew as illegal mass rave ends

PARIS, Jan 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Millions in France faced tightened
curfew restrictions Saturday to combat a high rate of coronavirus
cases, as police booked hundreds of New Year revellers for flouting
anti-Covid measures at an illegal rave in the country.

The coronavirus has killed more than 1.8 million people globally
since emerging in China in December 2019, according to a tally from
official sources compiled by AFP.

But experts believe the worst is yet to come, predicting a sharp
rise in cases and deaths after weeks of holiday gatherings.

In Bangkok, the city’s nightlife went quiet as a ban on bars,
nightclubs and restaurant alcohol sales went into effect, among a raft
of restrictions aimed at curbing the kingdom’s rising coronavirus
toll.

The Thai capital also announced that public schools would close for
two weeks, while more than a dozen virus checkpoints are set up across
the city.

Thailand initially appeared to have escaped the worst of the virus,
but an outbreak last month at a massive seafood market has spiralled
into a resurgence, with infections now detected in 53 of the kingdom’s
77 provinces.

And in Tokyo, the city’s governor on Saturday asked Japan’s
government to declare a new state of emergency as the country battles
a third wave of the coronavirus, with record numbers of new cases.

The measure allows local governors to call on businesses to close
and to request people stay at home.

– Vaccine race –

The soaring numbers of infections around the world means the
desperate race to vaccinate is set to dominate the coming year.

The vaccination programme in the United States has been beset by
logistical problems, even as the world’s worst-hit country passed 20
million cases.

MORE/MRU/2345hrs

ZCZC

BFF-32

HEALTH-VIRUS NEWSERIES-TWO LAST

In Russia, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that more than
800,000 people had received the domestically produced Sputnik V
vaccine and that 1.5 million doses had been distributed throughout the
country of around 147 million.

The Kremlin has held back on imposing nationwide virus restrictions
and instead placed its hopes on the mass vaccination drive to end the
pandemic and save its struggling economy from the hit of another
lockdown.

The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of Covid-19
infections, extended a nighttime curfew by two hours in parts of the
country to help combat the virus.

The curfew will start at 6 pm, rather than 8pm in 15 of France’s
101 departments, most of them in the country’s east.

Paris has, for now, been spared the additional restriction.

The curfew restrictions came as an illegal rave in northwestern
France ended on Saturday after more than two days of partying that saw
clashes with police.

– ‘We had to party’ –

Around 800 people were booked for flouting anti-virus measures,
while the regional health authority in Brittany noted the “high risk
of the spread of Covid-19” at the event.

“We knew what we were risking… we had to party, for a year
everything has been stuck,” said one of the revellers, a 20-year-old
waitress.

Another party was broken up by police on Saturday near the Spanish
city of Barcelona, where 300 people had been partying for more than 40
hours.

Football players were also among those caught breaking coronavirus
rules, with Tottenham’s Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo
Celso to be disciplined after a pictured emerged of them attending a
large party.

Elsewhere, Norway, which has one of the lowest infection rates in
Europe, on Saturday began requiring Covid-19 tests upon arrival into
the country.

Travellers from abroad must quarantine for seven days and test
negative twice as part of the new restrictions, imposed after Norway
recorded five cases of a new coronavirus variant that first emerged in
Britain.

Denmark discovered 86 cases of the new variant, which is feared to
be more contagious.

The Greek government also announced a new extension, until January
10, of its strict two-month lockdown measures, ending an easing of the
restrictions over the holiday period.

In Lebanon, medics warned that hospitals are being overwhelmed by
coronavirus cases, as infection rates surge in the wake of end of year
holidays.

But in Australia, the finishing touches were being put on a glitzy
show at the Sydney Opera House Saturday, as the venue prepared to host
an opera crowd for the first time since March following a virus
hiatus.

BSS/AFP/MRU/2345hrs