Irish government ministers are restricting their movements after a cabinet member tested positive for Covid-19.
Agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue received a positive test result on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the minister said he was not displaying symptoms.
McConalogue, who attended a cabinet meeting on Tuesday in Dublin Castle, recently travelled back from Brussels from an EU meeting on fisheries.
As an essential worker he was not required to self-isolate on his return but he did have to undergo a series of Covid tests.
It is understood the minister tested negative before leaving for Brussels and again on his immediate return. His positive test was returned after he undertook a required follow-up test on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the minister said: “He is displaying no symptoms and is in good health. He is now self-isolating.”
New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, said members of the city Sheriff’s office would start paying home visits to enforce a quarantine order for travellers from the UK in an effort to stop the spread of the new Covid-19 variant.
De Blasio said all international travellers to New York City would start receiving a Department of Health Commissioner’s order to quarantine, delivered via certified mail, and they could face a $1000 fine per day for violating the rules.
The city Sheriff’s office will check ontravellers from the UK at their homes or hotels to ensure compliance, de Blasio said, taking extra precaution out of concern that they could bring a new, highly transmissible variant of the virus to New York.
“We’re going to provide them with that commissioner’s order, but then there’s going to be a follow up, direct home visit or hotel visit from the sheriff’s deputy to confirm that they are following the quarantine,” de Blasio said.
A summary of the increased restrictions for England:
A further 10 million people in England will face stricter restrictions from Boxing Day, following an announcement from the health secretary, Matt Hancock, this afternoon. More than 6 million people, equating to 11% of the population of England, will be added to tier 4. Those living in Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Waverley, Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton will move to the highest tier.
While a further 4.3 million people will move into tier 3, including those living in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset including North Somerset Council, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, New Forest, Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Warrington. Cornwall and Herefordshire will also move up to tier 2.
Almost nine in 10 people in England will be under tier 4 or 3 restrictions once the changes come into effect, with 42% of the population in tier 4 and 44% in tier 3. Only the Isles of Scilly now remain in tier 1.
Italy reported 553 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday against 628 the day before, taking its total toll past 70,000, the health ministry said.
The daily tally of new infections increased to 14,522 from 13,318. Italy becomes the fifth nation in the world to surpass 70,000 deaths, with an updated total of 70,395, the highest in Europe.
It has also registered some 1.991 million cases to date.
The number of swab tests carried out in the past day rose to 175,364 from a previous 166,205, the health ministry said.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19 stood at 24,546 on Wednesday, down by 402 from the day before. There were 216 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 201 on Tuesday.
Andrew Proctor, the leader of Norfolk county council, said the impact on hospitals was driving the county’s move from tier 2 to tier 4 restrictions from Boxing Day.
“With our hospitals under increasing pressure and rates of the virus in the county continuing to rise over a number of indicators, the news of tougher restrictions for Norfolk isn’t what we wanted to hear but in those circumstances doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.
“Looking on the brighter side, our case rates are still lower than other areas of the country, particularly the south-east.
“Norfolk has made a collective effort to keep the virus at bay as best we can and it’s essential we continue to do that.
“It’s the impact on our hospitals that’s driving this change and we can’t afford to overwhelm them, preventing our hard-pressed doctors and nurses from treating people and saving lives.”
Hancock says "Just as we'd got a tiered system in place which was able to control this virus" the variant disrupted it.
Hmm. It's true the variant didn't help- but public health experts I've spoken to expected the tiers to struggle anyway given cases were so high post lockdown2.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, the medical director at Public Health England, said the rapid rise in cases is hugely worrying.
Every day the number of new infections is reported, which can be overwhelming, we need to remember that each one represents a person who could become seriously unwell with Covid-19. Please follow the rules in your local area which will help to keep your friends and family safe.
None of us will be having a normal Christmas this year but please remember to look out for family and friends who might be alone and struggling.
Canada’s health regulator has approved Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, making it the second country to give the drug the green light.
The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said Canada should receive as many as 168,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine before the end of December, with deliveries set to begin within 48 hours of approval.
Canada has an agreement with Moderna for 40m doses of the vaccine in 2021.
In a notice sent out on Wednesday morning, Health Canada noted the vaccine was 94.1% effective and safe.
“There were no important safety issues identified and no life-threatening adverse events (AEs) or deaths related to the vaccine,” the notice said.
Because Moderna’s vaccine requires less intensive cold storage, it is seen as an ideal candidate for use in remote indigenous communities and Canada’s sparsely-populated northern territories.
Canada was one of the first countries, alongside Bahrain and the United Kingdom, to approve Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine, which it deployed to healthcare workers and residents in nursing homes.